50 US troops must be 'blown to smithereens' for America to take Haqqani Network, Pakistan seriously

This July 31 article in The New York Times displays the horse-has-left-the-barn mentality that is prevalent in higher echelons of the US government when it comes to terrorist threats and Pakistan. According to the report, the US government won't take the threat of the Haqqani Network and Pakistan's support of the terror group seriously unless another mass-casualty attack occurs against US forces in Afghanistan.

But a new boldness from the Haqqanis that aims at mass American casualties, combined with simmering political tension, has reduced the room for ambiguity between the two countries. Inside the administration, it is a commonly held view that the United States is "one major attack" away from unilateral action against Pakistan -- diplomatically or perhaps even militarily, one senior official said. "If 50 U.S. troops were blown to smithereens by the Haqqanis, or they penetrated the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and killed several diplomats -- that would be the game changer," he said.
American officials recently considered what that could mean. Days after the Salerno attack, the White House held a series of interagency meetings to weigh its options in the event of a major success by the Haqqanis against American troops.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/08/50_us_troops_must_be_blown_to.php#ixzz22fWNjzRU