WASHINGTON, Sept 8: An American plan for combating Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt will be high on the agenda when Presidents Pervez Musharraf and George W. Bush meet in New York this week.
President Musharraf, who is now in Boston, is expected to meet Bush on Thursday, the day after the first anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
While talking to a group of Pakistani journalists visiting Washington over the weekend, senior US officials expressed deep concern over Al Qaeda’s ability to regroup in Pakistan.
The journalists — columnists and editors from several of Pakistan’s major newspapers — were invited to the US as part of a State Department programme to improve America’s image in the Muslim world. The group was briefed by officials from the Defence Department, the State Department and the FBI.
US officials said in the briefings that they hoped to have conclusive talks with Pakistani officials during Musharraf’s visit on the issue of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters hiding in areas bordering Afghanistan. The Americans said they hoped Pakistan would be able to weed out the hundreds of fugitives believed to be there.
Besides the tribal area, the US officials said, Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives also have settled in some Pakistani cities with the help of local sympathizers.
Some US officials suggested that if Pakistani troops were unwilling to go after Al Qaeda members, the United States would be willing to use its own troops to wipe them out. “But no such operation will be conducted without Pakistan’s permission,” a senior US official said.
In some parts of the tribal belt, Pakistani troops are reported to have refused to take action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, saying they had no quarrel with them.
The Pakistani and US sides also are expected to discuss this week an American package for modernizing Pakistan’s civilian intelligence agencies. The US officials believe that Pakistani police and civilian agencies lack the capability to deal with orchestrated crimes such as terrorism, and they have offered training to Pakistan to correct this.
