Reuters...American troops for Osama operation?
The United States has struck a deal with Pakistan to allow US troops to hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this spring in an area of Pakistan where he is believed to be operating, the New Yorker magazine reported on Sunday.
Thousands of US troops will be deployed in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan in return for Washington's support of President Pervez Musharraf's pardon of the Pakistani scientist who this month admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the issue that goes on sale on Monday.
Full disclosure of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's activities would have exposed him as "the worst nuclear-arms proliferator in the world," an intelligence official is quoted as saying.
"It's a quid pro quo," according to a former senior intelligence official. "We're going to get our troops inside Pakistan in return for not forcing Musharraf to deal with Khan." Musharraf has also offered other help in the hunt for Osama, accused of masterminding the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, according to the article.
"Musharraf told us, 'We've got guys inside. The people who provide fresh fruits and vegetables and herd the goats' for Osama and his Al Qaeda followers," the intelligence official added.
The spring offensive could slow the tempo of US operations in Iraq, the magazine said. "It's going to be a full-court press," one Pentagon planner was quoted as saying. The article added that some of the most highly skilled US Special Forces units would be shifted from Iraq to Pakistan.
Special Forces personnel have been briefed on their new assignments and in some cases have been given "warning orders" - the stage before being sent into combat, according to a military adviser. –Reuters
The Dawn- Osama Bin Laden crossed into Pakistan on Feb 27 and is closely guarded by Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters disguised as a Pakistani tribesman, US media reported on Sunday.
The reports said Bin Laden "is currently hiding" in a remote area in South Waziristan near the Afghan border. On Saturday, both US and Pakistani officials denied a Teheran Radio report that the Al Qaeda leader was already in Pakistan's custody and would be brought to the United States close to the presidential elections scheduled in November this year.
But when a Pentagon spokesperson was asked to comment on the reports that Bin Laden was seen in Waziristan and that US and Pakistani authorities had stepped up their efforts to catch him, she said: "Yes, we have seen the reports."
Asked to confirm or deny the report, she repeated: "I told you, we have seen them." The reports said recent US military advances in southern Afghanistan forced Bin Laden and his Taliban supporters to quit their hideouts in Afghanistan. The reports also said more than once US military search teams had come close to these hideouts.
Such close encounters, the reports said, convinced Bin Laden and his protectors to seek refuge in the tribal areas of Pakistan and on Feb 27 they crossed into southern Waziristan.
But the reports suggest that Bin Laden and his followers are not safe in Pakistan either because US and Pakistani forces have already marked the area where they believe he is hiding. They are, however, reluctant to launch a full assault because of hundreds of Pukhtun fighters protecting the Al Qaeda leader.
Pakistan is particularly concerned that any offensive that leads to a large number of Pukhtun deaths could have very negative political consequences for the government in Islamabad, the reports said. Instead of a direct assault, Pakistan has urged the Americans to isolate Bin Laden and his fighters by severing food and water supplies. |
