WASHINGTON: The Obama administration seems to have finalised a legal framework for targeting suspected terrorists hiding abroad as a US envoy arrives in Islamabad for talks on the Haqqani network.

“Job one between the US and Pakistan on the counter-terrorism front is to tackle the Haqqani network,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a briefing in Washington while announcing Ambassador Mark Grossman’s visit.

“We’ve got to find a way to work on this together.”

On Saturday, various US media outlets reported that while the United States would not use ground troops against militant hideouts inside Pakistan, it would intensify air strikes at those targets.

The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration overcame a major legal hurdle in targeting militants when it got an approval from the US Justice Department for killing an American-born Muslim cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki. CIA drones killed Awlaki in Yemen on Friday.

The approval followed a review by senior administration lawyers of the legal issues raised by the lethal targeting of a US citizen. Administration officials told the Post that there was no dissent about the legality of the killing.

Legal experts who spoke to the media said that this would encourage the administration to enhance air strikes on militant targets in places like Pakistan and Yemen.

Media reports said the administration could also use other aircraft, like jetfighters and bombers, for attacking the Haqqani network now that it had assured Pakistan that it would not use ground troops.

Meanwhile, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Mark Grossman has left Washington for talks with Pakistani and Afghan officials. He will also visit India, China and Central Asia in preparation for a conference on Afghanistan in Turkey in November, the State Department said, without providing a detailed itinerary.

Afghan officials indicated earlier this week that they did not want Pakistan to participate in the tripartite meeting because of its alleged support to Taliban militants. “We have had statements of concern from the Afghans. Ambassador Grossman wants to talk about this directly with the Afghans and he will on this trip,” said the State Department’s spokesperson when asked if Kabul had conveyed its reservations about Pakistan to Washington as well.

“We believe that this tripartite dialogue – US, Afghanistan and Pakistan – has been useful. That it has helped us solve some problems. So obviously, he’ll be talking to folks both in Kabul and in Islamabad about the value of it to see where we go. But we continue to think it’s an important structure,” Ms Nuland said,The United States, she said, was also holding “very clear and candid conversations” with Pakistan on the Haqqani network as well and Ambassador Grossman will “continue those conversations” when he arrives in Islamabad.

In Kabul, Mr Grossman will try to soften the Afghan government’s new tough position on Pakistan, she said.