White House says Shahzad connected to Pakistani Taliban

Senior members of the Obama administration confirmed yesterday that Faisal Shahzad, the suspected Times Square bomber, was directly helped by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan appeared on Sunday news shows and said Faisal Shahzad was working on behalf of the Tariqi Taliban Pakistan, a Taliban military organization connected with al-Qaida. The group is mostly based in Northern Waziristan, a lawless tribal region in Pakistan where the U.S. has attacked extremists with Predator drone strikes. But now that the group appears to be extending its reach beyond Pakistan and onto American soil, the U.S. may have to rethink its strategy.

We talk with David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times.