Pakistan: 5 cross border strikes in 6 days

8:10 pm MST update: File this one under payback. Maybe I spoke too soon. Pakistan stops NATO supplies at border and claims it's not a reaction to the recent rash of US raids on al Qaeda safe havens. Really.

7:38 pm MST update: We're up to 6-12 casualties and there are more details of the latest raid including the fact that the casualties "were Arabs" according to the NY Times. The really good news? It's beginning to look like the Pakistanis are sharing intel with us that allows us to take out the "foreign fighters" with impunity while allowing the Pakistanis deniability. I sure as hell hope that's the program.

Who's trail are we hot on the heels of???

From Long War Journal: US Airstrike kills five al Qaeda operatives in North Waziristan.

Fun fact: We have conducted 13 cross border attacks in Pakistan this year with 8 of those 13 occurring in the last 2 months and 5 of those in the last 6 days. 3 senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed but it's not enough.

While the strikes have disrupted al Qaeda's senior leadership, they have done little to disrupt the growth of al Qaeda and the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan.

The Taliban, al Qaeda, and allied terrorist groups have established 157 training camps and more than 400 support locations in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

The Taliban has organized some of its fighters into military formations. Al Qaeda has reformed the notorious 055 Brigade, the Arab legion of al Qaeda fighters that was destroyed during the initial US assault in Afghanistan in late 2001. Additional al Qaeda brigades have been formed, intelligence officials informed The Long War Journal.

Foreign al Qaeda fighters have flocked to the Pakistani border regions. On July 23, Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani and his cabinet were told that more than 8,000 foreign fighters were operating in the tribal areas.

Just say no to al Qaeda safe havens.