Navy SEALs Were Ready if Pakistan Failed to Free Family Held as Hostages
But the risky operation planned on Pakistani soil was called off because some in the United States government were not certain
that the people spotted by the drones were Ms. Coleman, Mr. Boyle and their children, according to the officials.
Mr. Boyle has said a gun battle ensued before he and his family were freed,
but American officials remained skeptical and a Pakistani military spokesman has said only that the vehicle’s tires were blown out.
Mr. Trump was briefed, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson both backed the idea
that should the Pakistani government decline to try to rescue the family, the Navy SEALs would go in.
American officials said communications with the Haqqani network had gotten garbled, causing confusion,
and the death of the leader of the Taliban, killed by a United States drone strike last year, also set back efforts to rescue the hostages.
The top American diplomat in Pakistan, Ambassador David Hale, turned to his host country, one of the officials
said, delivering an urgent message to the Pakistani government: Resolve this, or the United States will.
If the Pakistanis did not act decisively, the United States would set aside its unease and launch a raid deep inside the country to free the family.