WASHINGTON: The White House has backed away from using American commandos for further ground raids into Pakistan after furious complaints from its government, relying instead on an intensifying campaign of air strikes by the Central Intelligence Agency against militants in the Pakistani mountains.

Through Sunday, there were at least 18 Predator aircraft strikes since the beginning of August, some deep inside Pakistan’s tribal areas. At the same time, however, officials said that relying on air strikes alone, the US would be unable to weaken al-Qaeda’s grip in the tribal areas permanently. Within the government, advocates of the ground raids have argued that only by sending special operations forces into Pakistan can the US successfully capture suspected operatives and interrogate them for information about al-Qaeda.

President Bush finally gave his approval in July for ground missions inside Pakistan. But the only American ground mission known to have taken place was a special operations raid on September 3, in which roughly two dozen people killed, including some civilians. American officials say there has not been another commando operation since.

A senior administration official said on Sunday that no tacit agreement had been reached to allow increased Predator strikes in exchange for a backing off from additional American ground raids. But Pakistani officials have made clear in public statements that they regard the Predator attacks as a less objectionable violation of Pakistani sovereignty.