Keeping an eye on Pakistan's anti-terror efforts
Musharraf extends deadline for tribal leaders to turn over Al Qaeda.
Pakistan's army is engaged in its biggest counterterrorism sweep since President Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led war on terrorism in late 2001. The goal was to clear the lawless and largely autonomous tribal areas in its North West Frontier Province of foreign Al Qaeda fighters.
Was it successful? Was it enough?
Not nearly, if the capture of senior Al Qaeda officials (with Osama bin Laden heading the list) is the measure of success. None were caught.
"Pakistani leaders say they have no idea where
Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders are,"
Reuters reported on Tuesday, "but several hundred Al Qaeda fighters, believed to include Arabs, Afghans, Uzbeks and Chechens, are believed to have escaped the recent fighting," in Pakistan.
Nevertheless, according to US and Pakistani officials, that does not mean the operation was a failure.
The simultaneous operation conducted largely by the US on the Afghan side of the border, certainly
proved Pakistan willing and able to engage with terrorist forces believed to be hiding there, Lt. Gen David Barno, the commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan, told the
New York Times in an interview Monday.
Pakistani forces, said Gen. Barno, had significantly affected the ability of Al Qaeda to support a suspected Taliban insurgency across the border in Afghanistan, and "so far prevented an anticipated offensive this spring in Afghanistan by the remnants of Taliban fighters who are suspected to have taken refuge across the Pakistani border in tribal areas."
There were no signs that senior Al Qaeda had escaped from Pakistan into Afghanistan, Barno told the
Times.
'Our sense is that anyone who is there, is still there,' and that there was every sign that the Al Qaeda fighters would stay in Pakistani tribal areas and fight, because it was 'extraordinarily dangerous' for them to operate in Afghanistan because of the presence of American troops.
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld echoed Barno on Tuesday, reports the Pakistan based,
Daily Times.
Mr. Rumsfeld said the United States appreciated the "
degree of cooperation" that the US "is currently receiving from Pakistan. ...I would characterize it as very good."
He was responding to a query at the Pentagon about reported accusations by US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, that
Pakistan was not doing enough against foreign terrorists hiding in its tribal areas.
Since the initial engagements last month, Pakistan has shifted its tactics harkening back to a practices used in the 19th century by the British when they were trying to stabilize the same tribal areas. Pakistan has withdrawn its troops while giving tribal leaders a deadline to get rid of foreign fighters still hiding in the autonomous region, saying it would hold them accountable to do so.
That deadline, which was to have ended Tuesday, was extended, reports
Reuters. Pakistan did not give a new deadline, however.
Pakistan was eager "to
avoid a bloody military operation," writes the
Guardian in extending the deadline for tribesmen, saying "it believes the 2,000-strong militia is sincere in its effort to track down the suspects."
The
Guardian reports that Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, said:
...the lashkar, or tribal force, had the support of the local Yargul Khel tribe, and that the government was willing to 'give them more time' if they deliver. He also repeated an offer of amnesty to foreign militants if they surrender.
'We will watch the situation for two or three days,' Shah told a news conference in the provincial capital, Peshawar. 'We don't want bloodshed. If there can be a peaceful solution of this problem, we will prefer that.'
What ensues will be watched closely. If the tribal leaders fail to pursue and capture Al Qaeda fighters, it will fall to Pakistani forces to renew their offensive, say both US and Pakistani officials.
Also...
•
Five sub-tribes agree to back campaign: Govt extends deadline (
Dawn)
•
A hypothetical memo from Osama bin Laden (
The Independent Institute)
•
Mission reforming Islam (
Media Monitors Network)
•
Osama Bin Laden, Jamie Gorelick and the 9/11 Commission: 'Through the Looking Glass' (
mensnewsdaily.com)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Jim Bencivenga
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