The Los Angeles Times reports senior Pentagon officials are debating whether the US military should expand the Afghan war by carrying out military attacks against Islamic militants operating in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas. The move would be in defiance of Pakistan’s civilian government, which recently refused to accept a US military training mission for the Pakistani army. US drones have carried out a number of strikes inside Pakistan in recent years, but now the US is considering a more direct military role in Pakistan. The prominent military analyst Anthony Cordesman said the US should treat Pakistani territory as a combat zone if Pakistan does not act. Cordesman’s comment came in a new report in which he declared the US is now losing the war against the Taliban. Cordesman writes, “Pakistan may officially be an ally, but much of its conduct has effectively made it a major threat to U.S. strategic interests.”