Much has been written about American Air Strikes in Pakistan. A public veneer of sovereignty is maintained as a farce by the government, while American forces attack targets inside Pakistan with abject impunity and with deadly force. Mr. Barak O’Bama’s public posturing is irrelevant. Pakistani denials are not listened to.
The new parliament may not be so compliant and with a vociferous opposition, the National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan will surely investigate these issues. We admire this prodigious article written by Mr. Yusufzai who underlines the dangers and the issues with this bombing.
The elimination of Mr. Saddam Husein did not make any difference in Iraq. The targeting of Mr. Rantisi in Gaza di note solve the problems in Gaza. The elimination of Mr. Libbi may not be worth the Anti-Americanism generated in the region.
Is the alliance crumbling in Afghanistan? http://rupeenews.com/2008/01/31/afghanistan-a-crumbling-alliance-canada-and-australia-withdrawing/
The real picture in Afghanistan:
http://rupeenews.com/2008/01/26/afghanistan-the-real-picture-why-mullah-omar-fired-baitullah-mesud/
Fighting the War in Afghanistan without Pakistan:
http://rupeenews.com/2008/01/20/fighting-terror-without-pakistan-by-lisa-curtis/
American boots on the ground will push miscreants into homes and Pakistani cities and villages.
American boots on the ground will increase Anti-Americanism
US troops on the ground will create a blowback
Consequences of US airstrikes by Rahimullah Yusufzai
The US military carried out a missile strike in Pakistani territory at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Islamabad to allow its troops to operate in Pakistan for hunting down Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters hiding in Waziristan and other Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). This wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last for the Americans to launch an attack on Pakistan’s soil.
Until now, there has been no claim of responsibility for the January 28 night-time attack on a house of a tribesman, known for his links to militants, in Khushali Torikhel Wazir village near Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. It reportedly killed 13 mostly Arab and Central Asian fighters allegedly linked to Al Qaeda and Taliban. Such strikes are carried out secretly and rarely acknowledged, though sometimes the Pentagon and other arms of the US government leak information to the American media to claim credit for the more successful airstrikes and for the ones that don’t cause many civilian deaths. In the latest case, there is growing evidence that a CIA-operated, pilotless Predator aircraft fired the missile that struck the tribal village and caused those deaths.
There was obvious glee among US officials following reports that a senior Al Qaeda operative Abu Laith Al-Libi was among those killed in the airstrike. One of them while requesting anonymity said taking down guys like Al-Libi could have both an operational and symbolic impact. Still he wasn’t confirming the report of his death and was content to say that there were strong indications that Al-Libi had been killed. The Americans in such situations don’t rush to judgement and prefer to wait and seek evidence before confirming the death of some of their most dangerous foes.
The subsequent revelation by two Islamic websites, As-Sahab and Al Ekhlass, which are normally used by Al Qaeda and similar groups to provide news and views, that Al-Libi had indeed been killed was surprising. These websites, or the pro-Al Qaeda elements operating them, don’t reveal the loss or arrest of their senior operatives and instead strive to keep their enemies guessing. Therefore, it is understandable that their admission of Al-Libi’s death is generating controversy. Either it was no longer possible to keep his death secret or someone has manipulated their websites to pass on information that would demoralize the Al Qaeda rank and file. Still the statement posted on the Ekhlass.org [a1]website congratulating the Islamic nation on the “martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Laith Al-Libi” along with the prayer that “May God accept him (as a martyr)” could be taken as admission by elements close to Al Qaeda that Al-Libi is no more.
This opens a window of opportunity for the US to put further pressure on Pakistan to allow its troops based in Afghanistan to cross the border and deploy in places like North Waziristan and South Waziristan. It could argue that wanted Al Qaeda operatives such as Al-Libi were hiding in Pakistan and the job of tracking them could be done more effectively if the US and Pakistani troops carried out joint operations. In fact, the Americans are convinced that all top Al Qaeda figures including Osama bin Laden and his deputy Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, were based in one of the two Waziristans even if they don’t have any conclusive evidence. The US government functionaries, including President George Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and almost all presidential candidates have issued statements to the effect that Washington had the right to launch pre-emptive military operations in case there was actionable evidence about the presence of bin Laden and other senior Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.
It is, however, debatable that the US military would do a better job than the Pakistan Army while operating against militants in the rugged and inhospitable terrain of Waziristan. It is no secret that the American soldiers would be unwelcome in Pakistan and would arouse patriotic sentiments even among those who don’t harbour strong anti-US feelings and dislike the militants. In fact, the arrival of US soldiers in Pakistani territory would further jeopardize its failing project of winning the hearts of minds of Muslims and create conditions conducive to producing a higher number of militants and suicide bombers.
President General (r) Pervez Musharraf did well to warn the US of undertaking any such adventure by reminding it of the risks involved in deploying American troops to Waziristan. He even equated any incursion by foreign troops into Pakistan as an invasion. Coming from a man who is accused of being a US puppet should be enough to remind the Americans that there are limits to interfering in the affairs of a sovereign country and forcing its ruler to accept its self-serving demands. President Musharraf should know after having tried every means, including scores of military operations since June 2003 and peace accords, to subdue the militants and failing to fully accomplish the task. Rather, Musharraf is being made to realize that the militancy is spreading to newer and generally peaceful areas instead of being contained. In the process, his army has lost almost 1,100 soldiers, a figure higher than the casualties suffered by the US and its NATO allies during the past six years after they invaded Afghanistan and replaced the Taliban regime with the pro-West government led by President Hamid Karzai.
As for the Americans, their policy of hitting targets in Pakistan has by now become the norm than the exception. They have done this several times in the last few years and have every intention of repeating it without caring for Pakistani sensibilities. Only once has the Pakistan government protested the US aggression and that was way back in January 2006 when a US drone attacked Damadola village in Bajaur Agency with two missiles and killed 13 innocent villagers. President Musharraf himself made a mild protest and expressed his disappointment that the US authorities failed to take him into confidence about the airstrike in Pakistan despite his cooperation with America in the so-called war on terror. Subsequently, Pakistani authorities stopped protesting and instead started taking responsibility for missile strikes that most people believed were carried out by the US military. One notable case was that of the missile strike against a madressah, or Islamic school, in Chingai village not far from Damadola in Baajur in which 83 mostly teenaged students were killed. The Pakistan Army claimed responsibility for the attack and suffered the consequence soon when a suicide bomber out to take revenge struck at the military’s training centre in Dargai and killed 43 mostly young soldiers.
In a way, the latest missile attack by the US military in North Waziristan has rendered meaningless the need for permission to the Americans to hit targets in Pakistan. Their troops may not enter Pakistan but they can always use their superior air technology to attack positions and suspected hideouts of the militants in our tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The US would continue to strike Pakistani territory as long as its troops are based in Afghanistan and the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies aren’t defeated. That is unlikely to happen. That means we have to face a long period of instability and violence in our border areas which in turn would adversely affect the situation in the rest of Pakistan.
The writer is an executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar
Email: bbc@pes.comsats.net.pk
