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Pakistan being pressed to capture Osama to help Bush win
Washington: The White House has intensified pressure on the Pakistani government to capture Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Mullah Mohammed Omar in time for President Bush to recoup his sagging popularity and be re-elected.
According to the respected American journal the New Republic, a succession of high-level US officials have visited Pakistan to “urge Pervez Musharraf’s government to do more in the war on terrorism”. US ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalizad’s repeated admonitions to Pakistan to do more in the hunt for these key figures are part of the same effort. The Americans want Pakistan to deliver these men before the November election, although the Bush administration denies any linkage between the war on terrorism and the November election campaign. According to National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack, “Our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn’t change because of an election.”
The magazine article claims that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce these high-value targets (HVTs) by the election. According to one unnamed source in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), “the Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out Bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the US administration to deliver before the (upcoming) US elections.”
Introducing target dates for Al Qaeda captures is a new twist in US-Pakistani counterterrorism relations, a former intelligence official told the magazine. A Pakistan Interior Ministry official is quoted as saying, “The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections.” Another ISI source, said to be an aide to Lt Gen Ehsan-ul-Haq, told the journal that the Pakistanis “have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before (the) election is (an) absolute must”. What’s more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: “The last 10 days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during meetings in Washington.” This was denied by the National Security Agency spokesman.
According to the New Republic, the Pakistanis fear that if they produce the men the Americans want, they will not get the F-16s they so badly want. They also fear that if they do not deliver, either Bush or a prospective Kerry administration would turn its attention to the apparent role of Pakistan’s security establishment in facilitating Dr AQ Khan’s illicit proliferation network.
One Pakistani general recently in Washington confided in a journalist, asserts the story. “If we don’t find these guys by the election, they are going to stick this whole nuclear mess up our asshole.” The report quotes this correspondent as saying, “In Pakistan, there has been a folk belief that, whenever there’s a Republican administration in office, relations with Pakistan have been very good.” There is also a “folk belief that the Democrats are always pro-India”. Recent history, the report points out has validated those beliefs.
Referring to the fighting in Waziristan, the New Republic writes, “But there is a reason many Pakistanis and some American officials had previously been reluctant to carry the war on terrorism into the tribal areas. A Pakistani offensive in that region, aided by American high-tech weaponry and perhaps Special Forces, could unite tribal chieftains against the central government and precipitate a border war without actually capturing any of the HVTs… Some American intelligence officials agree. ‘Pakistan just can’t risk a civil war in that area of their country. They can’t afford a western border that is unstable,’ says a senior intelligence official, who ... says he has not heard that the current pressures on Pakistan are geared to the election. ‘We may be at the point where (Musharraf) has done almost as much as he can.’ Pushing Musharraf to go after Al Qaeda in the tribal areas may be a good idea despite the risks. But, if that is the case, it was a good idea in 2002 and 2003. Why the switch now? Top Pakistanis think they know: This year, the president’s re-election is at stake.”
No pressure for HVTs: A Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, in a statement, rejected the report published in Washington which claimed that Pakistan had been asked to produce high-value targets (HVTs) before the US presidential elections, APP reported. “There is no public or private pressure on Pakistan to meet artificial deadlines or produce HVTs,” he said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-7-2004_pg1_8
The magazine article claims that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce these high-value targets (HVTs) by the election. According to one unnamed source in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), “the Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out Bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the US administration to deliver before the (upcoming) US elections.”
Introducing target dates for Al Qaeda captures is a new twist in US-Pakistani counterterrorism relations, a former intelligence official told the magazine. A Pakistan Interior Ministry official is quoted as saying, “The Musharraf government has a history of rescuing the Bush administration. They now want Musharraf to bail them out when they are facing hard times in the coming elections.” Another ISI source, said to be an aide to Lt Gen Ehsan-ul-Haq, told the journal that the Pakistanis “have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before (the) election is (an) absolute must”. What’s more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: “The last 10 days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during meetings in Washington.” This was denied by the National Security Agency spokesman.
According to the New Republic, the Pakistanis fear that if they produce the men the Americans want, they will not get the F-16s they so badly want. They also fear that if they do not deliver, either Bush or a prospective Kerry administration would turn its attention to the apparent role of Pakistan’s security establishment in facilitating Dr AQ Khan’s illicit proliferation network.
One Pakistani general recently in Washington confided in a journalist, asserts the story. “If we don’t find these guys by the election, they are going to stick this whole nuclear mess up our asshole.” The report quotes this correspondent as saying, “In Pakistan, there has been a folk belief that, whenever there’s a Republican administration in office, relations with Pakistan have been very good.” There is also a “folk belief that the Democrats are always pro-India”. Recent history, the report points out has validated those beliefs.
Referring to the fighting in Waziristan, the New Republic writes, “But there is a reason many Pakistanis and some American officials had previously been reluctant to carry the war on terrorism into the tribal areas. A Pakistani offensive in that region, aided by American high-tech weaponry and perhaps Special Forces, could unite tribal chieftains against the central government and precipitate a border war without actually capturing any of the HVTs… Some American intelligence officials agree. ‘Pakistan just can’t risk a civil war in that area of their country. They can’t afford a western border that is unstable,’ says a senior intelligence official, who ... says he has not heard that the current pressures on Pakistan are geared to the election. ‘We may be at the point where (Musharraf) has done almost as much as he can.’ Pushing Musharraf to go after Al Qaeda in the tribal areas may be a good idea despite the risks. But, if that is the case, it was a good idea in 2002 and 2003. Why the switch now? Top Pakistanis think they know: This year, the president’s re-election is at stake.”
No pressure for HVTs: A Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, in a statement, rejected the report published in Washington which claimed that Pakistan had been asked to produce high-value targets (HVTs) before the US presidential elections, APP reported. “There is no public or private pressure on Pakistan to meet artificial deadlines or produce HVTs,” he said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-7-2004_pg1_8
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"Pushing Musharraf to go after Al Qaeda in the tribal areas may be a good idea despite the risks. But, if that is the case, it was a good idea in 2002 and 2003. Why the switch now? "
Bull. There is no switch. Pakistan and the US have been going into Tribal areas ever since 2002. Only 9 months after 9/11.
Apparently the idiots over at TNR have forgotten, which blows their lie right out of the water.
Christian Science Monitor
from the June 28, 2002 edition
Pakistan joins war against Al Qaeda in its tribal areas
Pakistani troops are hunting for some 40 Al Qaeda fighters who escaped after a battle earlier this week.
By Jawad Naeem | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
ISLAMABAD – The nocturnal raid this week by Pakistani troops – with FBI assistance – on an Al Qaeda hide-out was the first cooperative effort of this kind on Pakistani soil.
According to sources in Islamabad, five FBI agents worked alongside nearly 50 Pakistani Army soldiers during the operation near the Afghan border. But the US agents were not involved in the two-hour firefight.
This marks the first major combat operation inside Pakistan's autonomous tribal areas, and underscores the shift in the war on Al Qaeda from Afghanistan to Pakistan. In May, US special forces and Pakistani troops searched a madrassah in Northern Waziristan.
This latest ongoing operation is also an acknowledgment by Islamabad, say analysts, that Osama bin Laden's followers are regrouping in its territory – and that President Pervez Musharraf's government is willing to cooperate fully with US efforts.
"The incident in South Waziristan is a grim reminder that Al Qaeda is very much present in Pakistan and that it is able to find shelters in the tribal areas," says Afzal Niazi, a political analyst in Islamabad. "Flushing out the fugitives from their hideouts in a tribal region carries risk of trouble with locals, but it is a risk the authorities have got to take."
As such, it's unlikely to be the last Pakistani operation in the tribal areas. US military officials estimate that up to 1,000 Al Qaeda fighters have fled into the region from Afghanistan.
The clash Tuesday began around midnight in South Waziristan, a mountainous province inhabited by fiercely independent and deeply religious ethnic Pashtun tribesmen to whom bin Laden and the Taliban are considered heroes of Islam.
According to information gathered from Pakistani security and intelligence sources, the operation involved a strike force of three Pakistani units with 16 soldiers in each. It was initiated after the FBI intercepted communications in mid-May indicating the presence of Al Qaeda members in the area.
For Pakistani troops, the attack quickly turned chaotic. The fortress-like Al Qaeda compound is located in Azam Warsak, in a densely populated residential area some 20 miles from the Afghan border. For that reason, Pakistani military sources say the use of tanks or jet bombers would have produced too many civilian casualties.
As the troops entered the gates of the compound, they were hit by machine-gun fire and grenades. For two hours the battle raged, leaving 10 Pakistani soldiers dead, including a major and a captain.
When the fight was over, Pakistani troops found two dead Al Qaeda fighters lying beside their machine guns. They were identified as Chechens from the papers recovered from their pockets.
There was no trace of some 40 others who were believed to have been hiding in the house along with some women and children.
"They all managed to slip away in the darkness, while the two Chechens fought with machine guns," says a military source in the area.
A Pakistan Army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, says two concerns weighed on the minds of the personnel during the operation.
"There were some women and children inside the building, and there were other houses around it, and because of the concerns the law enforcement personnel had to proceed with care and avoid use of lethal force," he says.
Sources in South Waziristan say troop reinforcements arrived Thursday in Wana, the main town in the area, to beef up the search for the escaped fighters, who are believed to include Chechens and Arabs.
Authorities have summoned tribal chieftains from the area to Wana to tell them to cooperate in the operation or risk punitive action, the sources say. Authorities reminded tribal chiefs that under a 1901 law governing the semiautonomous tribal areas, it is their responsibility to ensure no unlawful activity takes place.
Yesterday, troops were conducting house-to-house searches, and the entire area was under curfew. Soldiers were making forays into the mountains to scan cave hideouts, sources there say.
Witnesses say some 20 tribesmen have been taken into custody, and the authorities have demolished several houses, a form of reprisal against suspected criminals under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, a harsh law inherited from British colonial rule.
The tribal territory is widely believed to be a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban cadres fleeing the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, and speculation continues that bin Laden himself may be hiding somewhere in the region with local support.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0628/p01s03-wosc.html?related
The anonymous sources no doubt are seeking to upset Bush's chances at election by planting this phony story. There are many factions within Pakistan that do not want part of the War on Terror, and are not beneath lying through their teeth to American publications.
Bull. There is no switch. Pakistan and the US have been going into Tribal areas ever since 2002. Only 9 months after 9/11.
Apparently the idiots over at TNR have forgotten, which blows their lie right out of the water.
Christian Science Monitor
from the June 28, 2002 edition
Pakistan joins war against Al Qaeda in its tribal areas
Pakistani troops are hunting for some 40 Al Qaeda fighters who escaped after a battle earlier this week.
By Jawad Naeem | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
ISLAMABAD – The nocturnal raid this week by Pakistani troops – with FBI assistance – on an Al Qaeda hide-out was the first cooperative effort of this kind on Pakistani soil.
According to sources in Islamabad, five FBI agents worked alongside nearly 50 Pakistani Army soldiers during the operation near the Afghan border. But the US agents were not involved in the two-hour firefight.
This marks the first major combat operation inside Pakistan's autonomous tribal areas, and underscores the shift in the war on Al Qaeda from Afghanistan to Pakistan. In May, US special forces and Pakistani troops searched a madrassah in Northern Waziristan.
This latest ongoing operation is also an acknowledgment by Islamabad, say analysts, that Osama bin Laden's followers are regrouping in its territory – and that President Pervez Musharraf's government is willing to cooperate fully with US efforts.
"The incident in South Waziristan is a grim reminder that Al Qaeda is very much present in Pakistan and that it is able to find shelters in the tribal areas," says Afzal Niazi, a political analyst in Islamabad. "Flushing out the fugitives from their hideouts in a tribal region carries risk of trouble with locals, but it is a risk the authorities have got to take."
As such, it's unlikely to be the last Pakistani operation in the tribal areas. US military officials estimate that up to 1,000 Al Qaeda fighters have fled into the region from Afghanistan.
The clash Tuesday began around midnight in South Waziristan, a mountainous province inhabited by fiercely independent and deeply religious ethnic Pashtun tribesmen to whom bin Laden and the Taliban are considered heroes of Islam.
According to information gathered from Pakistani security and intelligence sources, the operation involved a strike force of three Pakistani units with 16 soldiers in each. It was initiated after the FBI intercepted communications in mid-May indicating the presence of Al Qaeda members in the area.
For Pakistani troops, the attack quickly turned chaotic. The fortress-like Al Qaeda compound is located in Azam Warsak, in a densely populated residential area some 20 miles from the Afghan border. For that reason, Pakistani military sources say the use of tanks or jet bombers would have produced too many civilian casualties.
As the troops entered the gates of the compound, they were hit by machine-gun fire and grenades. For two hours the battle raged, leaving 10 Pakistani soldiers dead, including a major and a captain.
When the fight was over, Pakistani troops found two dead Al Qaeda fighters lying beside their machine guns. They were identified as Chechens from the papers recovered from their pockets.
There was no trace of some 40 others who were believed to have been hiding in the house along with some women and children.
"They all managed to slip away in the darkness, while the two Chechens fought with machine guns," says a military source in the area.
A Pakistan Army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, says two concerns weighed on the minds of the personnel during the operation.
"There were some women and children inside the building, and there were other houses around it, and because of the concerns the law enforcement personnel had to proceed with care and avoid use of lethal force," he says.
Sources in South Waziristan say troop reinforcements arrived Thursday in Wana, the main town in the area, to beef up the search for the escaped fighters, who are believed to include Chechens and Arabs.
Authorities have summoned tribal chieftains from the area to Wana to tell them to cooperate in the operation or risk punitive action, the sources say. Authorities reminded tribal chiefs that under a 1901 law governing the semiautonomous tribal areas, it is their responsibility to ensure no unlawful activity takes place.
Yesterday, troops were conducting house-to-house searches, and the entire area was under curfew. Soldiers were making forays into the mountains to scan cave hideouts, sources there say.
Witnesses say some 20 tribesmen have been taken into custody, and the authorities have demolished several houses, a form of reprisal against suspected criminals under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, a harsh law inherited from British colonial rule.
The tribal territory is widely believed to be a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban cadres fleeing the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan, and speculation continues that bin Laden himself may be hiding somewhere in the region with local support.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0628/p01s03-wosc.html?related
The anonymous sources no doubt are seeking to upset Bush's chances at election by planting this phony story. There are many factions within Pakistan that do not want part of the War on Terror, and are not beneath lying through their teeth to American publications.
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