Taliban chief in Pakistan seen as rising threat to U.S. policy

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Baitullah Mehsud, the son of a poor potato farmer who once worked as a fitness instructor, has grown into one of the most powerful militant leaders along the Pakistan-Afghan border, his rise fueled by alliances with Al-Qaida and fellow Pakistani militants.

A day after Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief, threatened to attack Washington itself, a U.S. drone fired two missiles at the alleged hideout of one of his commanders Wednesday in a remote area of northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing 14 people, intelligence and local officials said.

Mehsud is now seen as posing one of the greatest threats to President Obama's push to stem Pakistan's slide toward instability and turn around the war in Afghanistan, analysts and officials said.

For years, the United States had considered him a lesser threat than some of the other Pakistani Taliban, their Afghan counterparts and Al-Qaida because most of his attacks were focused inside Pakistan, not against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said the United States has changed its view in recent months as Mehsud's power has grown. "Mehsud poses a very real threat to stability and security in Pakistan and Afghanistan," said Eric Rosenbach, a terrorism expert at Harvard's Kennedy School.

Despite the latest rhetoric, the FBI said it was not aware of any imminent or specific threat to Washington. Even so, U.S. strikes targeting Mehsud and his supporters have been stepped up in recent weeks.

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KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - Four Taliban suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms on Wednesday stormed a government office in Kandahar during a seminar hosted by a U.S. democracy promotion organization, killing 13 people, including two provincial government officials, and wounding 17.

Seven civilians and six police were killed in the 20-minute gun battle. The dead included two provincial health and education officials, said Ahmed Wali Karzai, the leader of the provincial council. Among the wounded were two provincial council members, police officers and other council workers, he said.

Karzai, who is the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was not at the provincial council office during the attack, but a number of officials were present in the main hall for the final day of a seminar being conducted by the National Democratic Institute, officials said.

Kathy Gest, the director of public affairs for the National Democratic Institute in Washington, said initial information indicated the attack was not related to the seminar, but two of those killed -- the provincial health and education officials -- had been attending the training. No one from the organization was injured.