Musharraf's dangerous liaisons and the situation in the tribal areas

By Olivier Guitta

I recently wrote two articles for The Middle East Times on the worrisome situation in Pakistan, including Musharraf's duplicity and the worsening chaos in the border areas with Afghanistan.

Here is an excerpt from my first piece:

The situation in the tribal areas is getting worse by the day. For proof, in a recent interview published by the Swiss daily Le Temps, Rashid Shah, a Taliban leader in Pakistan's north-west region of Waziristan, stated:

"It is impossible to stop us. We have spies all along the border who tell us about the U.S. patrols. We also have spies inside their military bases. As soon as an operation is in the works, we know about it. Most of the time we immediately take off to attack the convoys.

"We don't need money," he continued. "We have some. The population directly finances our war effort. And we also get grants from countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They give money to our Koranic schools. Lots of money; which allows us to buy weapons. What we want is to liberate Afghanistan from Americans. And then we will liberate our country of pro-U.S. governments, such as Musharraf's."

Most of the fighting is left to the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary group created during the British era. They are Pashtun militias responsible for protecting the border area where the Pakistani army was historically forbidden. In 2004, the United States asked them to deploy against the Islamist fighters holed up in the zone.

You can read the whole article here.

Here is an excerpt of the second one:

Benazir Bhutto's recent assassination most likely by Islamist elements, most likely linked to the Taliban, is the latest proof of how central Pakistan is in the war against radical Islam. Bhutto's supporters were quick to blame Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf for her death. While it would be a stretch to see Musharraf's hand behind the plot, it is nonetheless clear that the president has some responsibility. First and foremost because of his dangerous liaisons with Islamists.

In fact, Musharraf has been playing with fire for a while by conducting a very double-faced policy: pretending to be the friend of the West, while appeasing the Islamist forces in his country.

Proof of this duplicity is in abundance. First, when it comes to fighting off the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas, some troops from the Frontier Corps (a paramilitary group in charge of dealing with the Taliban) are pointing out to the lack of Islamabad's will to finish off the Taliban.

You can read the full article here.

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