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| The Alliance | |
| Musharraf in the middle... | |
| 2001-09-15 | |
The man under the most pressure was Pervez Musharraf, the bland army general who seized power in Pakistan in October 1999 and named himself president earlier this year. General Musharraf now faces the stark choice of dropping the Taliban, the prized creation of his own country's military-intelligence cabal, or having Pakistan's own military and economic lifelines severed. The powerful head of Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI), General Mahmood Ahmad, was in Washington to argue the case with CIA chief George Tenet when the terror attacks occurred this week. Mahmood and officials in Islamabad were told bluntly that Washington expected Pakistan's "full and practical co-operation" in pursuing those suspected of the assaults. On Thursday the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, called General Musharraf directly with a "specific list of things" that included, Pakistani officials said, Pakistan closing its border with Afghanistan, cutting off funding to groups allied with Osama bin Laden, turning over any intelligence information it has on his whereabouts, pressuring the Taliban to turn him over and allowing US aircraft to fly over Pakistan if the US decided to attack. "Islamabad has constantly been apprehensive about the US joining a proxy game against the Talibs involving the Uzbeks, Russians and Indians," says Husain Haqqani, a leading commentator in Karachi who has held positions with prevous democratic governments. "The US message seems to have been that we'd rather work with old ally Islamabad so please fall in line," Huqqani said.
He thinks the heavy American pressure will force Pakistan to review its links towards Islamic militant groups in general. "Until now these groups have been treated as allies in the struggle against Indian occupation of Kashmir." There is hardly a more bitter pill for the ISI to swallow. It was livid when the former Benazir Bhutto government helped the US in arresting the main suspect in the earlier 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre, arguing this would shatter morale among the "Jihadis" (holy warriors) it is supporting in Kashmir. Another expert on the Taliban, author Ahmed Rashid, also sees little room for half-measures if the Americans are to be satisfied. Allowing strikes from Pakistan means the end of the relationship, he said from Lahore. In addition, Pakistan will have to end the covert but well-known supply of money, arms and fuel to the Taliban. Rashid also sees the ISI having to accept a crackdown on "the whole madrasah culture" - the medium through which the radical Taliban message has been spreading through Central Asia countries and into Malaysia and Indonesia. "It all has to be done in one go," Rashid said. "It's a huge thing." Adding to the pressure on Musharraf, President Bush himself referred on Thursday to the Pakistani leader's pledge of "unstinting" support for America's search for the terrorist masterminds. "Now we'll just find out what that means, won't we?" Bush said. | |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |