KARACHI - In anticipation of a new era in Pakistani politics under president-in-waiting Asif Ali Zardari, the first volleys have been fired in a renewed joint Pakistan-North Atlantic Treaty Organization venture to fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda beyond Afghanistan's borders. Special forces carried out two attacks inside Pakistan.

On Wednesday morning, US special forces entered Angorada in the South Waziristan tribal area where members of al-Qaeda's shura (council), Arabs and Uzbeks were believed to be operating. The rugged mountainous area is also a known launching pad for militants staging attacks on a US military post in the Birmal area in Paktika province in Afghanistan.

The special forces, who flew in by helicopter to a small village, soon realized that they did not have the numbers or air cover to conduct effective search operations. Firing broke out and about 20 civilians are believed to have been killed before the forces withdrew.

Twenty-four hours later, four militants were killed in North Waziristan, reportedly by US special forces. The dead did not include any of the senior al-Qaeda or militant leaders who were said to have been in the area.

Contacts in Pakistan's strategic quarters told Asia Times Online that more cross-border attacks were likely as Pakistani intelligence was sharing information with the US on militant activities.

The idea of NATO or US forces stationed in Afghanistan staging raids into Pakistan was conceived in 2007 to eliminate top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders and their safe sanctuaries. (See US homes in on militants in Pakistan Asia Times Online, January 30, 2008.)

With Pakistan's Zardari expected to be chosen as president on Saturday, and with the US presidential election campaign ripe for a dramatic turn in the "war on terror", Pakistan is poised to become an international battlefield