Pakistan has no plans to diminish its military presence in the Pak-Afghan border region, Pakistani Ambassador-designate to the US said in a bid to allay Washington's "increasing alarm" over the deal Islamabad is negotiating with tribal leaders.
"The security requirements will not be abandoned or ignored," Ambassador Husain Haqqani was quoted as saying in The New York Times, which said in its Tuesday edition that the deal could lead to the withdrawal of 120,000 Pakistani troops, thus unravelling security in the border region. "Negotiations with tribesmen are aimed at supplementing military efforts with political ones," Haqqani explained.
The Times said Pakistani counterinsurgency operations in the tribal areas had dropped sharply during the talks, while cross-border attacks into Afghanistan by militants doubled in March. "Indeed, Washington and Islamabad seem to be on duelling timetables, with the Bush administration trying to cripple al Qaeda's safe havens before leaving office, and the new Pakistani government seeking to establish credibility with its public by distancing itself from the American-backed policies of President Pervez Musharraf," the front-page dispatch said.
Citing American officials, the dispatch said that Washington's options now were even more limited, in part because Musharraf was no longer calling the shots, and that the situation in the tribal areas was unlikely to significantly improve before President George W. Bush leaves office.
"The problems confronting the administration reflect what critics say is a failure over the past several years to pay sufficient attention to the growing numbers of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters drawn to safe havens in the tribal area," the report said. "Even under Musharraf, the administration's main ally in Pakistan, the United States failed to develop a government-wide plan to combat the militancy in the turbulent borderlands," it said, citing critics.
The Times added: "The leaders of Pakistan's new government, Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, have vowed to honour their campaign pledges to break with Musharraf's emphasis on using military force in the tribal areas. A practice, critics say has been heavy-handed and has undercut the government's goals.
"The government has begun a negotiating strategy that officials hope will win over those in the tribal areas who in recent years have been caught up in a wave of anti-American sentiment and, in some cases, who are actively helping al Qaeda."
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