“Either with us or with our enemy”

By K.N. Pandita – “You will be brought down to your knees if Pakistan does not cooperate with you. Remember my words if Pakistan and ISI are not with you, you will lose in Afghanistan”, thundered General Pervez Musharraf in his September 30, 2006 interview with the BBC. Evidently, he had two-week (September 4 – 17) ‘Operation Mudesa’ in Panjwai district of Kandahar in mind in which NATO forces were reported to have killed 1100 Taliban. Many of the 160 captured were Pakistani nationals who made startling revelations about the support structure that sustains terror and insurgency in South Afghanistan.

A week after the General’s bluster, one NATO Commander said, “Our boys in Southern Afghanistan are hurting because of what is coming out of Quetta.” The Canadian Commander, who was in charge of ‘Operation Mudesa said, “It is time to tell Musharraf you are either with us or with our enemy”.

On October 10, a leaked document prepared by Defence Academy, a British think-tank linked to its Ministry of Defence, said that ISI indirectly backed terrorism by supporting religious parties in Pakistan.

What was coming out of Quetta, the border capital of Baluchistan, where there is a strong concentration of Pakistan armed forces? The pick-ups, in which hundreds of Pakistani Taliban were moving into Panjwai, were not stopped by Pakistani border guards, and hence, were destroyed by NATO air and artillery shells. NATO mapping Taliban support structure stumbled on ISI – run terrorist training camps near Quetta, huge ammunition dumps, arrival points for new weapons and a meeting place of the leads and planners.

The Taliban were using hundreds of local religious seminaries (madrasahs) to house the fighters and rally them for the mission ahead. These seminaries are run by Jami’au’l-Ulema-e Islam, a political party presently in power in the provinces of Baluchistan and North West Frontier of Pakistan.

NATO estimate of Taliban ammunition stocks in Panjwai is about 5 million US dollars. One senior NATO commander said, “There is no way the Taliban could have done this on their own without the ISI”.

In his meeting with Pakistani President on October 9 in Islamabad, Lt. Gen. Richards, the British Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan asked him to rein in ISI, “which is training and attacking our alliance troops”. He demanded the arrest of Taliban leads in Pakistan. Gen. Richards showed a plethora of evidence of ISI involvement based on satellite pictures, videos of training camps, suicide bombers inside Pakistan, an address in Quetta where Mulla Omar lived, captured Taliban and failed suicide bombers confirming their training in Pakistan. Unable to refute all this, Gen. Musharraf understated that there was Taliban problem on Pak-Afghan border.

Other NATO commanders, too, had their tales of woe. “ I feel real vitriol seeing our troops dying because of Pakistan”, said one British commander. An American commander said,” We just can’t ignore it any more. Musharraf’s got to prove which side he is on”.

At the same time Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also come out with his complaint saying,” There is an open campaign by Pakistan against Afghanistan and the presence of coalition troops there.”

General Musharraf’s September 5 truce agreement with pro-Taliban elements in Waziristan claiming the quelling of cross-border incursions has met with serious criticism by NATO commanders. Col. John Paradis said,” US soldiers reported two-fold, in some cases three-fold, increase in attacks along the border since the deal”.

Analyzing Pakistan’s domestic political situation and its intelligence agency’s close nexus with strong pro-Islamic political and civil structures, the report of the British Defence Academy speaks of covert move to replace Musharraf calling 2007 a crunch year in which international pressure for a move against Musharraf may meet up with Pak military’s attempt to retain control through ISI. It says that the deal with the tribal chiefs of Waziristan has been a humiliation to Pakistan, which accepted withdrawing the army, returning confiscated arms and paying reparations.

The Time Magazine of 30 September 2006 said that key NATO countries with their forces in Afghanistan (US, UK, Canada, Netherlands and Denmark), actually considered an ultimatum to Pakistan to “either close down the Taliban training camps and madrassahs and arrest its leaders operating from Pak or face the consequences.” It has to be reminded that President Bush denied any truth in the statement of General Musharraf in his recently published book In the line of fire that US Assistant Secretary of Sate, Richard Armitage had once warned Pakistani ISI chief saying,” Be prepared to be bombed: be prepared to go back to the stone age.”

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