Posted on 06/22/2002 10:28:40 PM PDT by swarthyguy
Hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are clandestine guests of the Pakistani military and reside in its barracks in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir while many of its senior leaders live in the country's large cities and towns, according to Indian officials and intelligence analysts. They say US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was apparently referring to this when he said during his visit to New Delhi last week that Al-Qaeda fighters - many of them apparently Pakistanis -- were operating near the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan.
"I do not have hard evidence of precisely how many or who or where ..." Rumsfeld said.
He however seemed to change his statement in Islamabad the next day apparently after Pakistan strongly reacted to his Delhi statement and accused him of being taken in by Indian propaganda.
Intelligence information alleging Al-Qaeda operations in Kashmir "tends to be speculative; it is not actionable," Rumsfeld said apparently to placate the Pakistanis.
Analysts said no estimates of the number of Al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan were available, but noted Islamabad had been permitted by the US to airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of them, mostly Pakistanis, from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan after they were trapped by US-led forces in November last year.
"If you make a narrow definition of Al-Qaeda as the Arabs targeting US, then the numbers may be small. But Al-Qaeda has a wider network and a number of Pakistani terrorist groups, including Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, are all part of it," a senior Indian official knowledgeable about their operations said.
"The US is aware of it. As the incidents in Islamabad and Karachi showed, they are all inter-linked," he said, referring to the suicide bomb attacks in a church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave in March and two devastating attacks in the port city in May and June.
"He (Rumsfeld) made the remarks in India because he had the information. He watered it down in Pakistan because they (Islamabad) were unwilling to acknowledge that Al-Qaeda fighters are in the country," said Afsar Karim, a retired major general of the Indian Army and an analyst on international terrorism.
According to Karim, apart from those airlifted from Kunduz, more than 4,000 Taliban and Al-Qaeda activists had escaped from the fighting in Afghanistan and entered Pakistan.
"Their senior leaders are hiding in big towns. Their cadres who are mere fighters merged into the army in remote areas," he said.
Officials said intelligence reports corroborated the information, though figures varied with some putting it at "thousands."
While hundreds were airlifted by Pakistani helicopters from Kunduz in night operations, more escaped to Pakistan from Tora Bora mountains, close to the Pakistani border, in the face of heavy bombardment by the US-led forces.
"They entered Pakistan with the connivance of the Pakistani army without which they could not have come," an official told IANS.
According to Karim, Pakistan army corps commanders, who support the cause of jehad in Afghanistan and Kashmir, have told President Pervez Musharraf: "You collect international aid and we won't come in the way. And we don't want you to come in our way" by attempting to crack down on the Al-Qaeda elements.
"This is convenient to Musharraf, who at heart himself is a jehadi. Even if he wanted to stop it he would not be able to," Karim added.
But the attacks by the Al-Qaeda on European and American targets in Pakistan have put pressure on Musharraf and forced the US to remove the kid gloves.
"The Americans are skating on thin ice" because they need Musharraf's cooperation to hunt down the terrorists. At the same time, they know that Pakistan continues to be a terrorist haven," Karim said.
Rumsfeld, at a regular Pentagon briefing on his return to Washington, was asked if Pakistan acknowledged Al-Qaeda operating from inside its territory.
"There's no question, but the Pakistanis understand that the border is porous and a lot of folks came over -- Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
"President Musharraf is bound to and determined -- if and when he finds Al-Qaeda or Taliban milling around in his country -- to go get them. And he has demonstrated that and has been enormously helpful," he added.
But it's an indian pov so....
Of course not! They're part of the family!
The truth is that there are many al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan and Kashmir, and they were easily able to cross borders by land. What the Hindustan Times refuses to acknowledge is that these terrorists are now attacking Pakistani targets. These "guests" are being rounded up and sent to Guantanomo Bay.
The Hindustan Times is good place to find the hardcore Indian point of view, but it's neither objective, nor in this case, particularly accurate.
When Rumsfeld was asked to deny this categorically on a Sunday news show, he fudged the issue by saying well, maybe a few might have been. Sometime this Jan, No i do not have a transcript. Believe what you want.
But you are correct. People will believe what they want.
"They entered Pakistan with the connivance of the Pakistani army without which they could not have come," an official told IANS.
According to Karim, Pakistan army corps commanders, who support the cause of jehad in Afghanistan and Kashmir, have told President Pervez Musharraf: "You collect international aid and we won't come in the way. And we don't want you to come in our way" by attempting to crack down on the Al-Qaeda elements.
"This is convenient to Musharraf, who at heart himself is a jehadi. Even if he wanted to stop it he would not be able to," Karim added.
This is right-on. The funny thing is, the US knows this, because we let the Paks airlift their guys and senior Taliban and Al-Qaida out of Kunduz.
I wonder why the US puts on the charade of accepting that there is a command difference between Pak Army and their irregulars, such as Al-Qaida and the Kahmiri militants?
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I do not believe it happened. I can't prove a negative, but our people have checked to the extent that it is possible to check. We have had enormous numbers of aircraft and intelligence sensors in various ways watching that area. No one that I know connected with the United States in any way has saw any such thing as a major air exodus out of Afghanistan into Pakistan.
You don't believe the Bush Administration. You want people to prove negatives and proceed to ridicule them when they can't. You are very consistent in what you want to believe, and I've long ago given up any hope of objectively discussing anything regarding Pakistan with you.
It's a shame, too, because you're obviously bright and well-read. You're a great source of information about India. But when it comes to Pakistan, you're ready to believe anything that comes out of Debka, Seymour Hersh, and the Hindustan Times.
MR. RUSSERT: Senators, we?re back to talk about Afghanistan. Senator Shelby, you?re on the Senate Intelligence Committee, the vice chairman. There?s a credibility issue here. The New York Times has reported that Taliban and Northern Alliance soldiers have both reported that Pakistani soldiers, aligned with the Taliban, have been airlifted out, escaped, if you will, and brought back to Pakistan. Our government seems to be denying that report. What can you tell us?
SEN. SHELBY: Well, I can?t confirm it or deny it. But I can tell you it would make a lot of sense that Pakistan, an ally of the Taliban, would try to rescue some of their people and probably some of the others. I think it?s a logical thing to believe. Now, what actually happened, I don?t know. But I just listened to our ambassador make the denial. I would be skeptical.
MR. RUSSERT: Of his denial?
SEN. SHELBY: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: But the United States has said that people should be brought to justice. If these Pakistanis were fighting with the Taliban, harboring Osama bin Laden, why should they be allowed to escape?
SEN. SHELBY: Well, that?s a good question. The question is, as you look at it, and you look at the border there, and you?how long it is, how long Pakistan?s been involved?you know, they propped up and basically created the Taliban?it?d be hard to stop them.
SEN. LEAHY: I would think that the ambassador is stating inaccurately with the information that he has before him. I don?t doubt that. But I agree with Dick that it would seem logical because of the close ties, especially between the Pakistani secret police and the Taliban, that there would be a few of them, you know, ?We got to take care of so and so because of the great favor he did for us two years ago,? something like that. And along a large border, I think that?s going to happen. I think that?s one of the things you have to realize in this. You know, we have some of these newfound alliances which then change day by day. You have the Taliban going to fight to the death and all of a sudden they?re shifting sides. This is not the nice Marquis of Queensberry rules that we might have expected.
MR. RUSSERT: So it sounds like, in return for General Musharraf of Pakistan?s support of our efforts in Afghanistan, we looked the other way as he or the CIA airlifted planes to remove Pakistani soldiers?
SEN. LEAHY: No, I?m not suggesting that at all. I?m just saying that it would not surprise me if this was done, and it even would not surprise me if some of it was done without our knowledge. We have looked the other way in a lot of things about General Musharraf.
I wonder too. I hope it's something along the lines of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Musharraf is under the microscope and he knows it. As long as India keeps the pressure on him, he won't be able to make a move in the wrong direction. (I hope.)
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