Pak Talk
Considerably more detail* on Cheney’s chat with Musharraf, from the South Asia Analysis Group:
3. According to reliable Pakistani sources, Dick Cheney’s talks with Musharraf were partly Afghanistan related, partly Al Qaeda related and partly Iraq related. … They insist Iran was not raised by either side. It is not yet known whether Cheney raised the long-pending US request for handing over A. Q. Khan, the nuclear scientist, for interrogation regarding his collusion with Iran and North Korea.
4. The Afghan-related discussions were about the failure of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Army to locate and arrest the leaders of the Taliban and the Hizbe Islami of Gulbuddin Heckmatyar operating from Pakistani territory, stop the recruitment and training of Taliban cadres in camps operating in Pakistani territory and to prevent their infiltration into Afghanistan for attacking the NATO forces. In fact, Gen. Musharraf has been following a policy of calculated inaction against the Taliban leaders and cadres operating from Pakistani territory ever since the US-led forces went into action in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The US used to close its eyes to it so long as he was co-operating against Al Qaeda. His co-operation against Al Qaeda has declined since August last year …
7. Since the so-called peace agreement signed by him with the pro-Taliban tribal leaders of North Waziristan in September last year, he has called off all ground-based operations in this area … He has been content with a promise made by the tribal leaders that they would not allow the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements to infiltrate into Afghanistan and attack the NATO forces … They are now saying that their commitment was that they would not allow these foreign elements to pose any threat to Pakistani security forces and nationals in Pakistani territory …
8. Earlier, in March 2005, Musharraf had entered into a similar peace agreement with the pro-Taliban tribal leaders of South Waziristan and has now been negotiating a similar peace agreement with the pro-Taliban tribal leaders of the Bajaur Agency. Taking advantage of the suspension of the military operations in South and North Waziristan, Al Qaeda has set up its own training camps there, which are different from those of the Taliban already existing …
9. Al Qaeda has in recent months shot down at least seven — possibly eight — US helicopters in Iraq … The repeated successes of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the examination of the videos disseminated by it after some of the strikes have brought out that these helicopters were brought down—despite the expert evasive action taken by the specially trained US pilots— by specially trained terrorists of Al Qaeda with the help of surface-to-air missiles … indicating the infiltration into Iraq of terrorists specially trained in anti-helicopter warfare. The Pakistani sources say that the Americans seem to suspect that these elements were trained in the Al Qaeda training camps in North Waziristan and then infiltrated into Iraq.
10. Both Al Qaeda and the Neo Taliban have stepped up their anti-US propaganda and PSYWAR … All indicators are that the material is being produced in Pakistani territory with the help of Pakistani experts and disseminated from there …
11. The Americans, who had been keeping their eyes closed to the Pakistani collusion with the Neo Taliban in the past, are no longer prepared to do so … Musharraf’s repeated suggestions for talks with the Neo Taliban and a peace agreement with it by the Hamid Karzai Government… have convinced the junior and middle-level NATO officers in Afghanistan that he is decreasingly acting as the front-line ally in the war against terrorism and increasingly acting as the launderer of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
12. The Pakistani sources say that during his talks with Musharraf, Cheney said that while the Bush Administration still stood by its long-term commitment to support Pakistan and the Musharraf regime, this commitment is likely to become untenable if his security agencies continued to avoid action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. He also drew his attention to the concerns expressed in the Democrat-controlled Congress over the perceived inaction of his Government against not only the Taliban, but also against Al Qaeda.
13. The US has not yet come to a parting of the ways with Musharraf. It still considers him a very good bet in Pakistan and in its war against terrorism. But, it no longer considers him the best bet and would not hesitate to consider other options if Musharraf continues to drag his feet.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com)
* accuracy, your guess is as good as mine.
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Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:36 am on Saturday, March 3, 2007
5 Responses to “Pak Talk”
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March 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 am
I’ll be interesting to keep a watch on this site’s work to see how they do over time. Thanks for the link.
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:28 am
Oops. I forgot the “t” in It’ll. That’s what I get for using a contraction. The brandy has absolutely nothing to do with it.
March 3rd, 2007 at 4:17 am
Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.03
Just read ‘em. Maybe I’ll find time to do more with ‘em later. (And some things that are too short to excerpt and too good to not mention.) Please feel free to use this post for comments and trackbacks not
March 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 am
Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.03
Some Bill’s Bites posts, some things I excerpted and linked but I’m sending you to the original post. I may rearrange the order of the items within this post as I add new things that I think belong above the
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I think Musharraf’s days are numbered anyway. The Paks hate him. His government is riddled with anti-US, pro-AlQaeda activists. If not for us, he’d have decorated a lamp post a long time ago, and it was a good thing for Cheney to remind him of that.