KABUL, 24 April 2005 — Militants are using bases in Pakistan to stage attacks in Afghanistan, an Afghan general said yesterday, intensifying a row between the two countries over operations in a border area where Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding. “All terrorists come from that side of the border. They fight in Afghanistan and when they face problems, they go back, get reinforced and equipped and come back for fighting,” Afghan army Gen. Shir Mohammad Karimi told reporters.
“This issue is as clear as sun for all the world to see that fighting is in Afghanistan and armed terrorists and weapons come from other places here and are being used against Afghans,” Karimi said. His comments came days after Pakistan protested to the US military over what it said was a recent spike in Al-Qaeda-linked militants sneaking across the rugged frontier from south and southeastern Afghanistan.
Pakistani Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, whose 70,000 troops have fought pitched battles with rebels in Pakistan’s restive tribal regions, said Wednesday he had voiced his concerns to the US and Afghan forces. Hussain also hit out at the chief of US forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, after the American was quoted as saying that a new Pakistani-US operation was imminent in the tribal area of North Waziristan.
But Karimi said: “In theory (Pakistani forces) show 100 percent commitment that they are fighting terrorism, but in actions it is clear that they do not have the control to abolish these hideouts totally.”
“Possibly it is their policy that they don’t want to do it or possibly they are afraid that their tribal people may rise up against them,” he added. Pakistan is a frontline ally of the United States in its so-called war on terrorism. It has captured or killed hundreds of militants who have moved back and forth across the porous border after the fall of the Taleban in late 2001.
A senior member of the Taleban surrendered yesterday, the latest in a series of defections to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government by Taleban commanders. Mofti Habibur Rahman, chief of the criminal department at Taleban’s Interior Ministry, also said other high-level and low-ranking Taleban officials inside and outside Afghanistan would take advantage of a government amnesty offer.
“The reason is that we now have an elected and legitimate government,” Rahman told reporters after surrendering to local authorities in Khost, the southeastern province near the border with Pakistan which is a hotbed of Taleban activity.
When asked if Jalaluddin Haqani, the top Taleban commander for the southeastern region would also give himself up, Rahman said: “I cannot say this because of security reasons.”
He said other Taleban officials who were prepared to join the government were living in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, members of a new Afghan border force backed by US troops have seized 479 kg of heroin and netted seven suspected smugglers, the US military said. Afghanistan is the world’s major producer of heroin and drug trafficking is one of the country’s most serious problems as it strives for stability after decades of conflict.
“This is counternarcotics at its best. The entire operation was planned, led and executed by the Afghans,” US Army Maj. Anthony W. Oliver said in a statement. “All we supplied was coaching, mentoring and some logistics,” he said of US involvement in the seizure near the Iranian border last weekend.
The street value of the seized heroin was about $2 million, the US military said. Most drugs from Afghanistan end up in Europe and Western countries have promised millions of dollars in aid to fight the drugs trade.
The April 17 bust on the northwestern frontier with Iran also netted seven Afghans suspected of smuggling operations, the US military statement said, adding that the men were now being held by Afghan security forces.
