Pakistan Court Orders American Held in Jail

A Pakistani court has ordered an American detained for two more weeks after he was accused of trying to enter a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, police said Monday.

In this photo released by Pakistan Press Information Department, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State...

In this photo released by Pakistan Press Information Department, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, center, talks with Pakistan's North West Frontier Province Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, right, during a meeting in Peshawar, Pakistan on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008. Boucher arrived in Pakistan for talks with leaders of a country vital to Western security concerns. Boucher's trip comes amid strains between Islamabad and Washington over suspected American missile attacks targeting militants inside Pakistan. (AP Photo/Pakistan Press Information Department, HO)

(AP)

The extended detention of 20-year-old Jude Kenan of Raleigh, North Carolina comes as America's top diplomat in the region, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, praised Pakistan for its military offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban militants in the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

Some U.S. officials doubt that Islamabad is willing or able to take on the militants and criticized earlier army operations that ended in short-lived peace deals they say gave the extremists time to regroup.

But Boucher said he was encouraged by what he was seeing in the border region of Bajur, where troops launched a major offensive in August that officials claim has killed 1,000 militants.

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"I think it is good Pakistan is taking serious military action against the terrorists," Boucher told reporters after three days of meetings with Pakistani leaders, including the president. "We have seen the government has shown the determination and willingness to see this through to the end."

Kenan, the American detainee, tried to enter the Mohmand tribal region a week ago. Authorities have not said whether they suspect him of contact with Taliban or al-Qaida militants. Kenan's family says he was in the country to visit his Pakistani father.

It was not immediately clear if Boucher discussed Kenan's case during meetings with Pakistan's president and other officials.

Militants in the tribal regions have put up strong resistance to the Pakistan military offensive and have stepped up suicide attacks around the country, including last month's blast at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 54 people.

The insurgents are also blamed for attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, where violence is running at record levels, leaving many doubting whether the seven-year-old war there can be won.