Pakistani president faces new questions over Taliban

Pakistan's role in the fight against the Taliban came under renewed scrutiny at an Oct. 9 meeting in Islamabad between a top British commander and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. General David Richards, who commands 33,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, says the meeting is routine. But it follows a string of accusations, some from within NATO, that Pakistan has failed to close down Taliban sanctuaries in the northern tribal belt, and that elements within its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency may be assisting the insurgency. NATO said on Oct. 8 that the Taliban had launched 78 suicide attacks this year across Afghanistan, killing close to 200 people. Gen. Richards said the country was at a tipping point, and warned that Afghans would likely switch their allegiance to resurgent Taliban militants if there were no visible improvements in people's lives in the next six months. "They will say, 'we do not want the Taliban, but then we would rather have that austere and unpleasant life that that might involve than another five years of fighting,'" he said. Although western diplomats remain squeamish about publicly criticizing Pakistan, military commanders, facing mounting casualties, are increasingly outspoken. At a hearing of the US Senate last month, NATO's supreme commander, General James Jones, said that Quetta in Baluchistan was the Taliban "headquarters." According to one report, NATO has traced the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, to an address in Quetta. The importance of Pakistani bases was underlined during Operation Medusa, a battle between NATO and Taliban forces last month, when NATO intelligence detected Taliban troop movements into Afghanistan and the evacuation of wounded Taliban fighters into Pakistan. NATO's chief spokesman, Mark Laity, denied that Gen. Richards confronted Musharraf on the issue. "The c-word we are using is cooperation," he said. "Gen. Richards is going there to make contacts, to make suggestions." But Laity refused to comment on reports that Gen. Richards brought videos, satellite images and other evidence of Pakistan-based Taliban camps to the meeting. Last month Musharraf admitted that some attacks originated from Pakistan. But on Oct. 8, his spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, called reports of Taliban presence "absurd," adding: "Pakistan is doing its bit, in fact more than its bit." But on the ground Pakistan is starting to take action, with police in western Baluchistan arresting wounded Taliban fighters seeking treatment in Quetta. On Oct. 7, they detained 40 in Quetta and nearby Kuchlak. But the raids failed to net any major figures. Musharraf angrily denies that the ISI is supporting the insurgency, but has admitted that some "retired" ISI officers may be involved. Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, ISI director general from 1987-89, called the allegation "bunkum." "Nobody from the ISI is involved, retired or not, and to say so is nonsense," he said. Meanwhile the outgoing British commander in Helmand, Brigadier Ed Butler, has responded to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's offer of more resources by asking for extra helicopters, saying they would mean "a higher tempo, not just offensive operations but also to crack on with reconstruction and development."