Taliban aims to take over nuclear armed Pakistan: Report

WASHINGTON: Warning that Islamist extremists were aiming to gain control over nuclear armed Pakistan, US media has told the Obama Administration that giving up its goal to defeat Taliban would be a catastrophe for American interest and major allies such as India.

Now that the once reluctant Pakistan Army is geared up to strike at the heart of the movement in Waziristan, the Obama Administration is wavering - and considering a strategy that would give up the US attempt to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, 'Washington Post' reported.

"Adopting such a strategy would condemn American soldiers to fighting and dying without the chance of winning. But it would also cripple Pakistan's fight against the jihadists", the paper said.

It said that during the past ten days, Pakistan's conflict with the Taliban has escalated towards full scale war - and the extreme Islamist movement has held the initiative.

Pointing out that this weeks' four major attacks demonstrated Taliban's growing power and ambition, the Post said this underlines the fact that the group no longer aims at controlling the ethnic Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but at gaining control over a nuclear armed state.