This is exactly what I have been saying for last nearly three years...<Three years later, Pakistan is the setting for the third hot war in the global war on terrorism, joining Afghanistan and Iraq as places where the military hunts and battles al Qaeda and other terrorists.
Bush administration officials say, in an odd twist, bin Laden's September 11 attacks might have saved Pakistan. Gen. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, saw his hold threatened by Islamic militants who were infiltrating more organs of government, especially the powerful intelligence service.
"Musharraf has clawed his way back, aggressively supported by the United States," said Mr. Gallington, an analyst at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. "We saved Musharraf in the nick of time. Pakistan is the focal point in that part of the world, and Musharraf understands that."
September 11 forced Gen. Musharraf to pick sides under pressure from Mr. Bush. He chose the United States.
During the invasion of Afghanistan in December 2001, the Pakistani president allowed his soil to be used by U.S. special-operations forces and the Predator spy drone to begin missions across the border.
During the subsequent counterinsurgency that continues today, he took an even bigger step. For the first time in memory, a president of Pakistan sent government troops into the vast tribal lands bordering Afghanistan. They are hunting for bin Laden and, in the process, confronting and killing bands of al Qaeda terrorists.
Pakistan's close working relationship with the CIA and FBI produced the arrests this summer of key al Qaeda members who use the country as a base from which to plan attacks and conduct worldwide communications. One key capture was Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was indicted in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.
On the ideological front, Gen. Musharraf's government has begun dismantling the network of harsh schools or madrassas that teach the young to hate. They are being replaced by public schools funded by the United States.
> |
