Questions Grow
in US on Pakistan's Commitment to Fight Taliban, Al Qaeda
By
David Rohde
ISLAMABAD:
Two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, questions are growing about
whether Pakistan, a crucial American ally in the campaign against
terrorism, is mounting a sincere effort to crack down on a resurgent
Taliban and other Islamic militants.
The
Pakistani military, which dominates the country, is credited by
American officials with excellent cooperation in hunting down
members of Al Qaeda. But members of the Afghan government and
some Pakistani political and intelligence officials suggest that
Pakistan is not doing all it could to stop Taliban forces from
using its territory to attack Afghan territory, and that some
elements of Pakistan's army are harboring Taliban and Qaeda members.
At
least three low-level Pakistani army officers have been arrested
on charges that they helped Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's
chief of operations, hide in the country before his arrest in
March, Pakistani intelligence officials said. These officials
believe that that the most likely hiding place of Osama bin Laden
is in the tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border.
Overwhelming
public support for Mr. bin Laden among the area's religiously
conservative Pashtun tribes continues to thwart efforts to arrest
him, they said.
Such
support is also evident elsewhere. Islamic militants are again
operating openly in Pakistan. Last Friday afternoon at the Red
Mosque in the center of Islamabad, the nation's capital, Fazlur
Rehman Khalil, the former head of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, delivered
a sermon to hundreds of worshippers as police officers lounged
outside.
The
State Department has declared the group a terrorist organization.
In 1998, Mr. Khalil supported Mr. bin Laden's call for attacks
on the United States and Western interests. After the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks in the United States, Pakistan's president,
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, banned the group. Mr. Khalil dissolved
his former group and created a new one, Jamiat-ul-Ansar.
On
Friday, he exhorted listeners to participate in "jihad,"
or holy war, but did not to say where.
"Our
salvation lies in obeying the orders of Allah, not America,"
Mr. Khalil said. "If we don't do jihad, our prayers and fasting
will not be accepted. This is a sacred duty."
After
he spoke, members of a new group collected money from worshippers.
Asked what the money was for, two members of the group said jihad
in Kashmir, where Islamic guerrillas are fighting to overthrow
Indian rule. Asked if it was also for jihad in Afghanistan, one
answered "Praise be to God." The other quickly cut him
off and said "no."
Members
of the group sold a copy of the September 2003 issue of their
magazine. Its cover featured an interview with Mr. Khalil in which
he stated that "America should announce its defeat"
in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The
back page contained a report saying that in Afghanistan, "a
raging battle between Islam and the infidels is continuing."
In
an interview, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said Pakistan
was fighting terrorism and Islamic extremism by all possible means.
He cited the influx of 3.5 million Afghan refugees into Pakistan
over the last 25 tumultuous years and scoffed at the idea that
Pakistan would try to destabilize its neighbor.
"We
have perhaps more to lose than any other country," he said,
referring to a rise in poverty and Islamic radicalism that he
attributed, in part, to Afghanistan's wars. "We have paid
in ways no other county has paid."
The
United States has shown no sign of questioning Pakistan's commitment
to fighting terror. President Bush called Mr. Musharraf on Monday
to thank him for Pakistan's contribution, the Foreign Ministry
said. American officials believe that the Pakistani intelligence
services, once seen as a key agent in the creation of the Taliban,
have been thoroughly reformed since Sept. 11, 2001, and are now
committed to fighting both Islamic extremism and terrorism.
Western
diplomats say the Taliban is building up its forces along the
border and running a recruiting network inside Pakistan. But they
see the problem as one of Pakistani capacity and politics, not
will, and say they have seen no evidence of direct aid from Pakistan's
government to the Taliban. "They may not know what to do,"
said one Western diplomat.
They
said the problem was that Pakistan's government was struggling
to counter a culture of Islamic militancy that dates back to the
anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan in the 1980's, a movement
the United States helped to create.
But
Afghan and Indian officials, as well as some Pakistanis, contend
that the Pakistani military, its allegiances torn, is playing
a double game with the United States.
Pakistan
serves up the occasional Qaeda fugitive to appease American officials,
they say. At the same time, it makes little effort to eradicate
the Taliban and other militant groups that serve its foreign policy
goals by fighting against India, its arch rival.
Pakistani
hard-liners see Northern Alliance commanders that dominate the
Afghan Defense Ministry as Indian allies and warn that Pakistan
is being surrounded by hostile neighbors.
Senior
Pakistani government and intelligence officials dismissed the
idea that their country might seek to foment trouble in Afghanistan
for strategic reasons. General Musharraf has faced assassination
attempts from militants, they say, for aiding the United States.
Whatever
the real extent of Pakistan's assistance, there are signs that
the invasion of Iraq, as well as disappointment with the American
effort to rebuild Afghanistan, have deepened an ambivalence in
the lower ranks of Pakistan's army and law enforcement agencies.
One Pakistani intelligence official involved in the hunt for militants
said that Al Qaeda was a threat to Pakistan's government, but
that the Taliban are not.
In
the border regions, an alliance of Islamic political parties won
control in elections last October. The leading party in the alliance,
the Jamiat Ulema Islam, runs a network of Islamic religious schools,
known as madrassas, inside Pakistan that produced the Taliban
leadership.
Afghan
officials say Quetta, a city in southwestern Pakistan, has become
a new haven for the Taliban.
Last
Saturday, Taliban flags flew from shops in Pashtunabad, a quarter
in the city packed with ethnic Pashtun refugees from Afghanistan.
Dozens of young students from madrassas wore large black turbans,
a Taliban trademark.
Mullah
Borjan, a madrassa student who said he was 23 or 24, said he planned
to join the fight over the border.
"I
will help Islam," he said, as other young students looked
on approvingly. "I will start fighting."
