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| India-Pakistan |
| Give Musharraf A Deadline |
| 2007-02-28 |
| INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Turns out that Vice President Cheney's secret showdown in Islamabad included a CIA presentation of "compelling" evidence proving al-Qaida leaders are operating inside Pakistan. The evidence was shown to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf over lunch in his palace. It must have been hard to swallow, because our "good partner" has denied that al-Qaida has made a comeback on his soil. Don't look here, he has insisted, look next door in Afghanistan. Now we have electronic intercepts of al-Qaida leaders operating in Pakistan, and satellite photos of new terror training camps there. Yet we're still trusting Musharraf to take care of business. In the latest VIP visit, we warned that Congress could cut off aid to his regime if he doesn't produce results. But we still left it up to him to take out al-Qaida leaders and their camps. The U.S. message, in so many words, was: Here's the evidence. We know they're here inside your country. Now will you please do something about it? Such deference in the face of photos and intercepts begs the question: Who is running this war? Right after 9/11 it was clear. "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," President Bush warned Pakistan and other Muslim nations. "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." It's bad enough we've restrained our Afghan-based troops from raiding those Pakistani camps and shutting them down. Now we've reportedly taken missile strikes off the table after Musharraf complained about a failed drone attack on an al-Qaida safe house. So now we're completely reliant on Pakistan to fight our war, even as Pakistan harbors our top enemies and exports terrorism to Britain and (almost) to America. There's something else wrong with this picture: Musharraf has emphatically denied al-Qaida's presence inside Pakistan, ignoring evidence presented to him by NATO commanders in Afghanistan. The fact that we found out otherwise without any boots on the ground, from miles in space, indicates that Musharraf has not been anywhere near as aggressive as he says he's been in hunting down our enemies and cracking down on their bases and camps. In other words, he's been playing us for suckers, stringing us along for more economic and military aid. The following facts are no longer in dispute: 1. Before 9/11, Pakistani intelligence husbanded al-Qaida, even introducing Osama bin Laden to Mullah Omar in Kandahar. 2. Before 9/11, the Pakistani government formally recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. 3. After 9/11, the Pakistani military helped bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders escape from Tora Bora, secretly escorting them across the border into Pakistan. 4. As Musharraf assured Washington he was cracking down on al-Qaida subgroups in Pakistan, Western journalists such as Daniel Pearl found out that their bank accounts in fact had not been frozen and their recruiting offices had not been closed as promised. 5. Musharraf then banned foreign journalists from traveling to Quetta and Peshawar and other Taliban and al-Qaida strongholds where they could confirm his story that Pakistan was free and clear of the Taliban and al-Qaida. 6. Then, last year, he surrendered that northern tribal region to militants protecting al-Qaida and the Taliban in what he called a "peace deal." He even gave captured fighters amnesty, releasing thousands from custody so they could rejoin the jihad. Since his truce, al-Qaida and Taliban attacks on U.S. and NATO troops across the border have more than tripled. Now add an attack on the vice president to the list. While we've been coddling Musharraf, the Taliban and al-Qaida have been able to regroup, rebuild and reattack because they enjoy a secure sanctuary largely free of attack within Pakistan. The longer we wait on Musharraf to act, the longer bin Laden has to train and export more terrorists to the West and communicate with cells already in place. Every second counts, and yet we are dragging this out in a very dangerous game. Musharraf will no doubt now send troops to those camps, but how can we be sure Pakistani intelligence won't just tip them off before the troops arrive? There are rumors that someone in Islamabad may have tipped off the Taliban to Cheney's travel plans. His stay at the Afghan base hit Tuesday by a suicide bomber was top secret. Regardless, we must now set a deadline for results. If Musharraf doesn't deliver, the answer isn't sending another U.S. dignitary to twist his arm. Besides, who's left to send? We have already sent the president, the vice president, the defense secretary, the CIA deputy (and the director before him), the secretary of state, the CentCom commander, the head of counterterrorism for State, among others. At this rate, the administration will have to turn to Jimmy Carter. It's plain that high-level visits to Islamabad haven't worked. We need to act unilaterally — hit those camps with overwhelming force — and apologize later. The security of the U.S. depends on it. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #4 there's an overland route from Iraq through Iran...just sayin'... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-28 19:13 |
| #3 How much US Forces bound supply move thru the Paki road net? Is it a critical amount? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-02-28 18:25 |
| #2 This dovetails well (though not in an encouraging way) with this article on frontpagemag.com. In it Steve Schippert states: "It is not an unreasonable assessment that the fall of the Musharraf government could well happen within this calendar year. The face of the conflict we think we know would then change in horrific fashion overnight. Buckle up." Even though I'm a Rantburg |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-02-28 13:16 |
| #1 Pakistan and Perv are no friends of the West.They are playing a double game to keep in power.Extremist support and West money!!!! They have used extremist groups for years as part of their foreign policy!!!! |
| Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-02-28 07:16 |