ISLAMABAD, 28 July 2007 — Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said yesterday his forces were fully capable of fighting Al-Qaeda militants and dismissed the possibility of US forces taking anti-terrorism action on Pakistani soil.
Musharraf’s remarks came after a spate of statements from US officials suggesting the US military kept open the option of a strike against Taleban and Al-Qaeda targets on Pakistani territory.
“It is very clear that here on Pakistani territory only Pakistani troops will operate. Nobody should have any doubt on it,” he told reporters before leaving for a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
“It is the arrangement (with the US) and we are capable to defend in our area. We don’t need any other force to help or assist us.” Musharraf’s comments came amid growing concerns in Washington that Al-Qaeda has become entrenched in a safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Musharraf is an important ally in the US-led war on terrorism but administration officials and lawmakers say he should do more. President George W. Bush spoke on Saturday of being “troubled” by an Al-Qaeda buildup in Pakistan, raising speculation about some kind of counterterrorism operation in the lawless regions.
And on Thursday US congressional sources said negotiators had agreed on legislation that would tie US aid to Pakistan to significant progress by Islamabad in cracking down on Al-Qaeda.
The agreement must still be approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives.
The Bush administration last week released unclassified excerpts of a major intelligence report that concluded the United States faces a heightened threat from Al-Qaeda in part because of the Pakistan safe haven.
Musharraf denied Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants were regrouping on Pakistani territory and launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
“No regrouping is taking place,” he said. Musharraf is also confronting a militant backlash after an assault on Islamabad’s Red Mosque, a radical stronghold, this month.
Pro-Taleban militants also announced the scrapping of a peace deal with authorities in the North Waziristan tribal region, a well-known hotbed of support for militants, adding to concerns about militant violence mainly in the northwest.
Meeting With Benazir
Speculation intensified yesterday that Musharraf and former Premier Benazir Bhutto will form a power-sharing pact, as television channels reported they met in Abu Dhabi.
Musharraf flew to the Gulf state earlier in the day, and was expected to return on Sunday, after also visiting Saudi Arabia.
Three television channels — Geo News, Aaj TV and Dawn News — said Benazir had also gone there from London and the two met secretly, but state-run Pakistan Television said officials had denied the reports.
“These report deserve no comments,” Musharraf’s spokesman former general Rashid Qureshi said. A close aide to Benazir, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, told Reuters by telephone from London that he was not aware of any meeting.
If Musharraf were to forge a partnership with Benazir, who controls the most liberal of Pakistan’s political parties, they could form a bulwark against the religious conservatives and Islamist militancy.
Benazir heads the Pakistan People’s Party, the largest opposition party, but has lived in self-exile since 1998 to avoid graft charges.
She has been in talks with Musharraf’s emissaries for months, and her bargaining position has become stronger as his presidency faltered.
She wants all cases against her dropped, and has insisted Musharraf should give up his role as army chief.
Many in her party believe she should have nothing to do with a military leader on principle, but in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times last week she said she would only help him if it guaranteed that free and fair elections were held on time.
