A secret 2005 mission to capture senior al-Qaeda members in tribal areas was aborted at the last moment when Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardise relations with Pakistan, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Citing intelligence and military officials, including a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning, the Times said in a story posted on its Web site that the target was a meeting of al Qaeda leaders.
That conference was thought by intelligence officials to have included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top deputy, who was believed to run the group's operations, it said.
The classified mission was scotched even as Navy Seals in parachute gear had boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan after then-Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected a last-minute appeal by then-CIA director Porter Goss, the Times said, citing the officials and the former intelligence official, all of whom requested anonymity.
Rumsfeld felt the mission, which grew from a small number of personnel to several hundred, would risk too many US lives, and was also concerned about possible repercussions on US-Pakistan relations, the Times said.
But that decision also frustrated some top intelligence officials and members of the military's secret Special Operations units. Some said the United States missed a significant opportunity to possibly nab senior al Qaeda members, the newspaper reported.
Another concern was his determination that the United States could not carry out the mission without Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's permission, which was unlikely given its size and scope, the officials said.
The former intelligence official involved in the mission's planning said it grew to the point where "the whole thing turned into the invasion of Pakistan," which he nonetheless felt was still worth the risk.
"We wanted to take a shot," the official added. Several former officials said it was not the only time since the September 11 attacks that plans were developed for a large US military force in Pakistan, the Times said.
Spokesmen for the Pentagon, CIA and the White House declined to comment, the Times said. "We're not going to speculate about contingency planning -past or present," Pentagon spokesman Major Patrick Ryder told Reuters on Saturday. The newspaper said it was not clear whether President George W Bush was informed about the planned operation.