American officials and analysts said it may be too early to tell if the strike that apparently killed Baitullah Mehsud will prompt Pakistan to sustain its suddenly active campaign against Taliban and other militant leaders in the lawless region bordering Afghanistan.
But taking out Pakistan's most wanted terrorist provides validation for the continued use of the unmanned air assaults that have been hammering insurgents there since late last year. Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials said the drone attack against the home of a Mehsud relative was carried out by the CIA.
The strike gives a boost to the Obama administration's remapping of counterterrorism policy, a strategy that melds persistent attacks against insurgents with the expanded use of "soft power," such as economic development, to help win public support against terrorists around the world.
Counterterrorism officials would not disclose details behind the strike, but American and Pakistani commanders have been working more closely together in recent months, sharing intelligence and coordinating attacks, officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
Some experts cautioned that the U.S.-Pakistani partnership is still fragile and a tough sell domestically in Pakistan. They worry that the elimination of Pakistan's most dangerous internal threat could just as easily tamp down Islamabad's enthusiasm for future operations in the rugged South Waziristan tribal region.
U.S. authorities said Friday they are increasingly confident that Mehsud was killed in Wednesday's U.S. missile strike in northeastern Pakistan.
"This is an important step for the U.S.-Pakistani relations," said Juan Zarate, former top counterterrorism official in the Bush administration. "Mehsud was really a charismatic figure that was able to galvanize
- based on his history, his experience and his brutality - his militaries to attack Pakistan and U.S. interests."
Mehsud had increasingly turned his attention to U.S. and other Western targets as he directed suicide attacks and sent recruits across the border into Afghanistan, said Zarate, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Complaints by some Pakistani leaders that the Americans had refused on earlier occasions to target Mehsud were largely dismissed by U.S. officials. The use of armed drones ramped up in the waning days of the Bush administration and has continued at a busy pace during the first seven months of Obama's term.
U.S. officials said Mehsud has been a target for some time although there may have been targeting disagreements in the past. One U.S. counterterrorism official said there are sometimes conflicts over tactics, even as the broader goals remain the same.
