Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf is in the middle of a state visit to America—and a firestorm over some charges he made during his recent interview with “60 Minutes.”
According to Musharraf, Richard Armitage warned in the hours after 9/11 that if Pakistan did not sign on to America’s war against al Qaeda and the Taliban, Pakistan should “be prepared to go back to the Stone Age.” Armitage claims he never said any such thing. “It did not happen,” he responded last Friday. “I was not authorized to say something like that. I did not say it.” Musharraf was coy about the episode during his press conference with President George W. Bush.
Whether or not Armitage delivered such a threat, the verbal volley only serves as a reminder of Musharraf’s failure to live up to his commitments and Washington’s failure to fully enforce its post-9/11 doctrine. It pays to recall that on September 20, 2001, Bush declared that “any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.” He proceeded to dictate terms to one such regime, demanding that the Taliban hand over al-Qaeda leaders; close its terrorist training camps; turn over “every terrorist and every person in their support structure;” and “give the United States full access to terrorist training camps.” His demands, he added, “are not open to negotiation or discussion.”
Days earlier, Armitage’s former boss, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, privately delivered a similar list of demands to Musharraf. Speaking “as one general to another,” as journalist Bob Woodward later quoted him, Powell called on Musharraf to block al-Qaeda operatives at Pakistan’s borders; intercept arms shipments; end logistical support for al Qaeda; grant US forces unfettered access to Pakistani airspace, bases, ports and borderlands; block Pakistani volunteers from crossing into Afghanistan; and end support of the Taliban.
Musharraf agreed to every demand. The Taliban regime did not. And as promised, the latter became part of history. But five years after 9/11, there is every indication that Musharraf is backsliding:
-This very month, Musharraf’s government released more than a thousand suspected terrorists and their accomplices, including al-Qaeda operatives.
-US forces are not free to move in or above Pakistan in pursuit of the enemy.
-And Musharraf’s troops are steering clear of certain semi-autonomous tribal areas, thereby ceding territory to the enemy and creating a safe haven for terrorists.
In short, Pakistan is violating the letter and spirit of Washington’s post-9/11 doctrine. And the time is long-overdue to call Musharraf to task. Some will say that pressing Musharraf opens the door to too many unknowns. But it was this very mindset that gave us the Taliban and gave rise to bin Laden’s global guerilla war.
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