Asia Times: Taliban adds to Pakistan's dilemma


	September 15, 2001	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Taliban adds to Pakistan's dilemma
By Nadeem Malik

ISLAMABAD - The Taliban government on Friday warned Pakistan not to give any assistance to the United States in attacking Afghanistan or Osama bin Laden, saying that to do so would incur the enmity of Afghans, "which is more dangerous than any other thing".

Washington has asked Islamabad - one of only three countries that recognizes the Taliban government in Afghanistan - to join its fight against global terrorism, and Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has promised full cooperation, although the exact terms have yet to be announced.

A Taliban government spokesman in Kabul also warned of revenge "by other means" if the US attacked its country in retaliation for Tuesday's terror strikes on New York and Washington.

Despite his public assurances that he will give assistance to the US, Musharraf faces opposition from some of his generals, who bitterly oppose the use of Pakistani territory for any strike against Afghanistan. There are also credible threats of widespread civil unrest, unleashed by armed religious groups in Pakistan, if the government is seen to be too accommodating to the US.

Senior official sources claim that Pakistan has offered the US the right to use its airspace against any group operating inside the Afghan border, without touching anyone in Pakistan's border city of Peshawar or adjoining tribal areas where religious fervor against the Islamabad administration runs high.

Interior Minister Moeenuddin Haider says Pakistan's policy is to cooperate in efforts against terrorism. However, he demanded joint efforts under the United Nations charter, and he also indicated that Pakistan had taken extraordinary security measures, such as tightened checks at the Pakistan-Afghan border. Islamabad airport was also unexpectedly closed for six hours on early Friday morning for unspecified reasons. Some suggest it might have been to allow the movement of troops, possibly US.

The US is believed to have discussed with Pakistan the specifics of ground and air attacks inside Afghanistan, and action against Arab groups operating elsewhere. The capital is awash with rumors that the Americans are demanding the closure of all borders with Afghanistan so that no one escapes before possible US air strikes and commando raids.

Senior political and military analysts in Islamabad strongly believe that the government will be keen to share intelligence information on bin Laden positions or other militant religious training schools inside Afghanistan as these are also safe havens for many wanted Pakistani criminals, including its most wanted, Riaz Basra, convicted of assassinating the director-general of the Iranian Cultural Center in Lahore in 1990.

Wendy Chamberlin, the US Ambassador to Islamabad, met Musharraf on Thursday, saying that it was a meeting of minds. "The president assured me several times in the meeting that he was with us," she said.

Pakistan already has a history of supporting US causes by acting as a frontline state against the Soviet Union during the Cold War era and its occupation of Afghanistan.

However, the US abandoned Pakistan at a crucial juncture, leaving it alone to face the present day Afghanistan. Political analysts believe that any cooperation with the US, particularly in the context of Afghanistan, should be under a comprehensive action plan and roadmap of future strategic relations.

However, Pakistan has limited options given the divide within its army and the danger of religious extremism. It also cannot go all out to support the US without consulting its time tested friends, such as Saudi Arabia and China. And its economic woes require that the government stay engaged with the Americans to ensure substantial support from International Financial Institutions.

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