Pakistan has not allowed American forces to fight militants within its borders, fearing a backlash. So U.S. officials have had to rely on the Pakistani military to carry out operations in the largely autonomous tribal areas.
The GAO report recommends that President Bush's national security and defense advisors jointly craft a comprehensive plan that would diminish the terrorist threat to Americans at home and abroad.
"Everyone is looking for the perfect answer and end result, and we have not achieved that yet," said one senior counter-terrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment publicly.
He acknowledged that "disparate efforts, not well coordinated," were contributing to the lack of effectiveness, but said efforts in Pakistan are nearly impossible given that country's reluctance to fully cooperate.
"If it could have been solved years ago, it would have been," the official said.
In formal responses, some senior administration officials agreed with many of the GAO's assessments but disagreed with some of its broader conclusions, saying, for instance, that various U.S. agencies have their own plans for combating terrorists in the tribal areas.
The State Department, which is charged with coordinating U.S. counter-terrorism efforts with other countries, told auditors that efforts by U.S. officials in Islamabad and Washington do, in fact, constitute a comprehensive strategy.
Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the United States was countering militants in Pakistan through political, economic and security initiatives.
"We devote resources to health, education, economic development, political reform, as well as going after Al Qaeda with the Pakistani security forces," Johndroe said. "This is going to be a long battle against a determined enemy."
Critics, many of them congressional Democrats, used the report's findings in their continuing criticism of the Bush administration's counter-terrorism campaign.
Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and one of the lawmakers who first ordered the GAO report, said the lack of planning was "appalling" and harmful to U.S. national security, and that he would hold hearings on them starting May 7.
Berman said the new leadership in Pakistan presents "a new opportunity to overcome the current administration's failures and to work with the Pakistani people to come up with a plan for victory over the extremist elements."
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josh.meyer@latimes.com
