The Hindu : U.K. combat troops wait for Pak. nod

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 24, 2002

International

International

U.K. combat troops wait for Pak. nod

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MARCH 23. The deployment of British combat troops in Afghanistan is reported to have run into an unexpected hitch, and from an unexpected quarter — Pakistan, the "war" coalition's staunchest ally in the region. But officials told this newspaper that they expected things to be sorted out soon.

In an embarrassing development, a Royal Marines contingent on its way to Afghanistan was refused permission by Pakistan to pass through Karachi. There was a flurry of diplomatic activity amid fears that a further delay in getting diplomatic clearance from Pakistan could upset Britain's rather tight deployment schedule.

"We are in discussion with Pakistan and we are confident that everything will be all right," a Ministry of Defence spokesman told The Hindu even as speculation persisted whether this meant that Pakistan was trying to "wind down" its involvement in the war in its neighbourhood. "It was not clear whether the Pakistani Government which has been a solid ally behind the American war on terror was having doubts about the new British mission," The Times said quoting British defence officials as saying that there had been a "real glitch".

British peacekeeping troops have been using a forward base in Karachi for flights to Bagram airport in Afghanistan, but for combat forces to use this facility, fresh diplomatic clearance from Pakistan is needed. Critics demanded to know whether Pakistan had given any reasons for the delay, and said the incident showed that even the closest of allies had started to "cool off" after six months of military action. It fuelled unease over Britain's decision to commit 1,700 combat troops in what is seen to be turning into an "open-ended" war with no end in sight.

A former commander of NATO forces in Europe warned that the U.S. and Britain could get caught up in an "unwinnable" guerilla war in Afghanistan in a replay of the "Soviet experience". Gen. Wesley Clark said there were "worrisome signs" that Western forces were drifting into a situation similar to that in which the Soviet troops found themselves after initial victories. "They won big victories. It took a year or two for the opposition to build up," he told The Daily Telegraph. The war, he said, was far from over and it could "still all go wrong". The newspaper said his comments would "stoke the concern of MPs and others in Britain who fear that the deployment of 1700 troops.... will be the first step in an entanglement that will end in disaster".

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, meanwhile, defended the decision saying he had always maintained that there was "going to be a period where we had to mop up the last remnants of Taliban and Al-Qaeda resistance". Sending British forces to deal with the remaining pockets of enemy resistance was necessary to bring the war to a successful conclusion, he said and rejected fears that it would make British peacekeeping troops in the region vulnerable to attacks from Al-Qaeda fighters.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

U.N. summit: Leaders vow to tackle poverty

Afghan children return to school

Margaret Thatcher bows out of public life

U.K. combat troops wait for Pak. nod

Gwadar port project gets under way

Protest over Bill on Mujib portraits

Ireland stands tall in the EU

Hundreds of Taliban prisoners freed

Not a reflection on Pak.'s ability, says U.S.

Fernandes to visit Russia next month

U.S. diplomats set to leave Pak.

Pak. Opposition's plan to hold rally thwarted