Asia Times: India/Pakistan


	May 8, 2002	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

US takes tentative step into Pakistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The seven-month United States-led war in Afghanistan is entering a new phase, with the focus switching to rooting out pockets of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, and in particular targeting Pakistan's tribal areas, which are believed to serve as the main supply lines for guerrillas operating in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Khost and Paktia provinces in southeast Afghanistan and the bordering Waziristan Agency in Pakistan will see the most action initially, army sources say, and some Islamic schools run by Afghans have already been raided by Pakistani troops assisted by US "intelligence and communications" experts.

According to the sources, US forces have made their center for what is called Operation Mountain Lion in Khost and some deserted areas near Miran Shah (Waziristan Agency). At both places, local forces (Afghan and Pakistani) are being used as foot soldiers to assist the US.

The US targets include senior Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders, such as Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani and Mullah Saifullah Mansoor. The US forces also suspect that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Aimen Al-Zawari, might be holed up in Waziristan Agency, although there is no clear evidence of this.

The new US-led offensive will rely less on air cover than in the past and more on small, mobile units of elite troops sweeping across the country. The raids on Islamic schools have already caused a stir among locals, and several anti-US protest rallies have taken place.

Local tribal leaders have petitioned the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, saying that they want all US forces pulled out of the country, and a council of Islamic schools last week decided that if US forces tried to conduct search and seize operations, a jihad would be declared against them.

Waziristan Agency is considered the most dangerous of the semi-autonomous regions in Pakistan's tribal areas. It is known as a haven for drug traffickers and kidnappers, yet it is also fiercely religious.

In many other tribal regions Western habits and customs are tolerated. Not so in Waziristan, where even today it is not possible to move around in Western clothes and feel comfortable. The area was the base for two of the leading Afghan commanders during the decade-long resistance movement against the Soviet occupation, which ended in 1989. Haqqani (the former Taliban minister) and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former Afghan premier and chief of the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan, used Waziristan Agency as the hub for their jihadi activities. Both commanders recruited and trained Afghan refugees in Islamic schools in Waziristan Agency, and these schools nowadays are believed to be important arsenals for those fighters in Afghanistan preparing to take on pro-US elements in Afghanistan.

Sources say that Islamabad fully understands the dangers of becoming involved with the US in its tribal belt, particularly Waziristan Agency, but it has bowed to US pressure.

With regard to this delicate situation, on Monday the Pakistani Interior Minister, Moinuddin Haider, left for Washington, a ministry spokesman said. "The visit is in the context of the current situation in Afghanistan and the ongoing cooperation against terrorism," the spokesman said. During his four-day stay, Haider will meet Attorney-General John Ashcroft, Christina Rocca, the assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and senior intelligence officials. The talks will focus on the situation along Pakistan's western border and its efforts to prevent al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists from escaping from Afghanistan into its territory.

Press reports said that the minister would discuss the possibility of acquiring surveillance helicopters from the US. Washington has promised assistance for Islamabad in increasing vigilance along its 870 mile border with Afghanistan. President General Pervez Musharraf told reporters at the weekend that Islamabad was looking for more technical help from Washington to seal the border, but he said that he did not want US troops to launch operations on Pakistani soil.

This might be the official line. Whether it remains the reality on the ground could go a long way to future stability in the volatile tribal regions.

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