Toronto Star: Pakistan fed up with U.S. and allies on Afghanistan

[seafan]

Pakistan fed up with U.S. and allies on Afghanistan

Haroon Siddiqui
Feb 25, 2007 04:30 AM

PESHAWAR–Those who invaded Iraq claiming it had weapons of mass destruction and have been blaming Iran and Syria for the murderous mess in Iraq, are also the same people now blaming Pakistan for the mess in Afghanistan.
They say Pakistan is aiding and abetting the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Maybe it is. But U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have offered little or no proof.

The American media are running a parallel campaign, hurling a more serious allegation, that the Pakistan army is extending logistical help to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Most such stories are based on unnamed sources.
The New York Times, which in the pre-Iraq war days carried phony WMD stories, is back practising the same sort of discredited journalism.
In a Washington-datelined story last week on ostensible Al Qaeda camps in North Waziristan, I counted 20 attributions to unnamed "American officials," "intelligence officials and terrorism experts," "American analysts," "counterterrorism officials," etc.

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Pakistan cannot possibly fully control the 2,400-kilometre border, most of it uninhabited terrain.

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Pakistan has done more in battling terrorism in the neighbourhood than any other nation. It has deployed 80,000 troops along the Afghan border, double the entire American and NATO contingent in Afghanistan, and has lost more than 700 soldiers, more than double the casualty count of all the allies.

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It has helped arrest dozens of Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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The Taliban do have sympathizers among their 15-million fellow-Pushtuns in Pakistan and among the 2.6 million Afghan Pushtun refugees living in Pakistan. But the main problem lies in Afghanistan, because of widespread corruption, opium production and the incompetence of the American and NATO forces, which have failed to bring security and economic development to the population.

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Pakistan admits that a few dozen, or perhaps hundreds of Al Qaeda members are hiding in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

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Pakistan is not knowingly hiding Taliban leader Mullah Omar, as alleged by Karzai. "Give me the address," snapped Musharraf. "I will go catch him myself."

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Pakistan is tired of hearing that it is not doing enough, says Azim. "But nobody tells us what is enough. Nobody defines what will be enough." I asked him if Pakistan is getting fed up with the U.S. and other allies."Up to here," he said, lifting his hand to his throat.

Thanks, George.