The Pakistani military has refused to fight a top Taliban commander who poses the biggest threat to the Western forces in Afghanistan, risking more frequent and broader US drone strikes inside Pakistan’s tribal region.

Pakistan has ignored repeated US demands to extend its military operation to North Waziristan which is believed to be main base of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the most powerful Taliban commander spearheading the insurgency in eastern Afghanistan.

A senior Pakistani security official said any confrontation with the Haqqani group could create more problem for an already overstretched Pakistani army which is engaged in battles with militants in neighboring South Waziristan and other tribal regions. “We cannot fight on so many fronts,” said the official.

The pressure on Pakistan to dismantle Afghan Taliban sanctuaries in the tribal areas along the border and in Balochistan has increased in recent weeks after President Obama announced his new Afghan war policy. US officials believe that most of the Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar, were based in Quetta. Pakistani officials deny this.

According to Pakistani security officials, the US has threatened to launch cross-border strikes if Pakistan does not act on its own. General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, raised the issue in his meetings with the Pakistani civil and military leadership in Islamabad this week. He identified Sirajuddin Haqqani as the primary threat to security in eastern Afghanistan.

Senior Pakistani security officials warn that any escalation by the US forces would be disastrous. “We have drawn a red line and would not accept any cross-border strikes by the US forces,” said one official.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is in his late 20s, represents a new generation of Taliban commanders who are more aggressive and more ruthless. He took over the command of the network from his ailing father Jalaluddin Haqqani, a former anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander who later joined the Taliban regime.

Haqqani wields considerable influence on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The senior Haqqani had established his base in Miranshah area in North Waziristan way back in 1973 even before the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet forces. Sirajuddin Haqqani has eclipsed his father in power and influence, and he rivals more senior leaders for leadership of the Taliban. In many ways, he is smarter and more respected than far senior Taliban leaders, said a Pakistani security official.

Haqqani’s influence is not just as a militant commander. His family had established a number of madrassas in North Waziristan. The largest among them was Manba-e-Uloom (source of knowledge), located outside Miranshah just on the Afghan border.

His connections with top Al-Qaeda leaders made him the most dangerous militant commander. Some senior Pakistani security officials believe that he wielded much greater influence in Afghanistan than even Mullah Omar.

Under Sirajuddin, the Haqqani network has become more violent and was responsible for increasingly deadly and complex attacks inside Afghanistan. Haqqani claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks around Kabul. He extended the network’s activities beyond Khost, Paktia and Paktika provinces to Ghazni, Logar, Wardak, and Kabul provinces and provided support to Taliban networks in Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces. His force drew new recruits among the militants from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries. US and Western intelligence believed that the ISI, Pakistan’s premier military spy agency, has continued its old links with Haqqani considering him an “asset” in maintaining some kind of influence in Afghanistan. Pakistani military officials admitted to having contact with the network, but dismissed the allegation of aiding and abetting its activities. “Intelligence agencies worldwide maintain such contacts,” said a senior ISI official.

Haqqani is important for Pakistan because of his influence over the tribal militants, particularly in North Waziristan. The contact helped Islamabad to maintain a tenuous balance of power in the area. On various occasions the Haqqani family had also helped in brokering peace deals with local militant groups.

A major concern of Pakistan is that the mounting US pressure could damage Pakistan’s own battle against homegrown Taliban militants: widening a military offensive in North Waziristan will imperil the fragile domestic consensus on fighting militancy.