Musharraf statement amuses diplomats

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, NOV. 23. Political observers and diplomats here are amused over the observations made by the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, that the position taken by Pakistan, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11 in the U.S., has been vindicated by developments in Afghanistan.

The comments made by Gen. Musharraf at the meeting of his Council of Ministers on Wednesday are seen as efforts by Islamabad to make the best of the worst situation from its point of view. There is little doubt here that the march of the Northern Alliance forces into Kabul with the help of the U.S.-led military campaign is a big blow to the objectives pursued by Pakistan vis- a-vis Afghanistan.

One commentator in a Pakistani English daily has pointed out that with the takeover of Kabul by the Northern Alliance, Pakistan has lost `strategic depth' of 2,500 km. The reference is obviously to the porous Pakistan-Afghan border and the bitter animosity between the commanders of the Northern Alliance and the Pakistani establishment in recent years.

There are indications that the military establishment here is engaged in some damage control exercise in the wake of the sudden change of the ground situation in Afghanistan and is making efforts to establish contact with the new rulers in Kabul.

During the initial period of the military campaign by the U.S. and its allies, Pakistan tried its best to impress upon Washington not to rely too much on the Northern Alliance and create a situation wherein it might march into Kabul. At one stage, it had even successfully sold the idea of accommodating a `moderate Taliban' in the post-Taliban scenario.

But the plans did not go far mainly because the expected defections in the Taliban ranks never came about and Washington was getting restive over the little progress in its military campaign in Afghanistan.

So once Washington decided to throw its weight behind the Alliance and go whole hog, Islamabad was left with little option. The only promise it managed to extract from Washington was that the Northern Alliance should not be allowed to march into Kabul. But alas it remained a promise only on paper and Islamabad is now desperately looking for ways to adjust to the changed situation.

In the last few days, Islamabad has been out of tune with the U.S. and its allies on some of the contentious issues such as violation of human rights by the Northern Alliance commanders, and now again on the issue of surrender of those holed up in Kunduz.

While Washington was all praise for the Alliance commanders for the discipline they demonstrated in taking over Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul, Islamabad is bitterly complaining about ``massacres''.

Pakistan seems to be very concerned about the fate of those holed up in Kunduz province as a substantial number of them have crossed over to Afghanistan from Pakistan in recent weeks to fight along with the Taliban against the U.S.

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Section  : International
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