Bush contradicts Musharraf

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 10. The President, Mr. George W. Bush has denied that the U.S. had given the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the impression that the military campaign against Afghanistan will be short or brief.

``I don't know who told the Pakistani President that. Generally, you know, we don't talk about military plans...there's one way to shorten the campaign in Afghanistan and that's for Osama bin Laden and his leadership to be turned over so they can be brought to justice'', Mr. Bush remarked at the White House.

Analysts and diplomats are seeing the first signs of discord between the Bush administration and Islamabad and the differences being aired publicly which does not help matters. The President has been repeatedly making the point that this Campaign against Terrorism does not have a set time-frame. And in the context of the present military strikes, Mr. Bush has given every indication that he is not going to stop until the Taliban regime folded up and a major dent was made in the Al Qaeda network .

The White House is saying that no assurances about a `short' military campaign was given to Mr. Musharraf. ``Not to my knowledge'' was the refrain of the spokesman, Mr. Ari Fleischer.

From the time this ``coalition'' was being put together the Bush administration has been extremely careful in how it went about the business of dealing with Pakistan. And one of the biggest fears was in destabilising a regime and a nation that had nuclear weapons. This was one reason why Washington sought to shore up alliances with countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and keep Islamabad's role to intelligence sharing and use of air space.

Even if no specific time-frame had been promised or discussed with Pakistan, the administration here understands the political bind the Pakistani leader is in. ``Every day this goes on is more painful for him (meaning Mr. Musharraf). He wants to hear that it won't take long and he's repeating what he wants to hear'', an unnamed senior official has been quoted in The New York Times.

On Wednesday, Mr. Bush once again reminded the American people to be prepared for the long haul. He vowed justice would be done for attacks on America ``if it takes one day, one month, one year or one decade''.

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Section  : International
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