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Pak forces in a dilemma

Though Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that his country won't withdraw its troops from its border with Afghanistan, it is obvious that the armed forces leadership is coming under increasing pressure to do so owing to the heightened tensions with India.

Efforts to block the entry of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda fighters into Pakistani tribal areas from Afghanistan could be affected if troops deployed on Pakistan's western border on the request of the US are shifted to its border with India.

The US government doesn't want that to happen; hence its high-profile efforts to prevent Pakistan and India from going to war.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld echoed his government's concern over the escalation of hostilities between the South Asian neighbours by pointing out that it would not only jeopardise the international campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan, but also pose problems for the 2,000 American soldiers now based in Pakistan. He was also concerned that Pakistan could ask the US to stop using its airspace in the event of a war with India and to return the four airbases now being used by American troops.

Pakistan hasn't yet withdrawn its troops guarding the long and porous western border with Afghanistan in parts of the Khyber and Kurram tribal agencies overlooking Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountain range. But the growing tension on its eastern border with India is already putting pressure on Islamabad to fix its priorities. And the priority would definitely be to bolster defences on the border with India rather than serving US interests in Afghanistan. In fact, Pakistan, in a bid to bolster its defences, has served notice on the United Nations that it wants to recall its peacekeeping troops deployed in Sierra Leone.

On US prodding, Pakistan for the first time deployed thousands of soldiers and militiamen on the border with Afghanistan. It was also the first time that tribal support was won for stationing troops in the remote Tirah valley in the Khyber agency. It was hailed as a major breakthrough because the freedom-loving Afridi tribesmen living in the unadministered Tirah hadn't allowed even officials of the political administration in the past to set foot into their lush-green valley bordering Afghanistan. They also opposed construction of roads, establishment of schools and electrification of their villages because they feared it would enable the government to gradually encroach upon their autonomy.

The North West Frontier Province governor, Lieutenant General (retd) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, corps commander Lt Gen Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai and other government functionaries have been frequently touring the area and promising the tribal people help to solve their problems and development projects in return for their cooperation in tracking down Al Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan.

The government until now has had some success in apprehending Arab cadres of Al Qaeda on the border with Afghanistan. Almost all of them were nabbed in the Kurram agency. But many Al Qaeda members and Taliban officials were able to slip across the 2,400km border, again with support from sympathetic Pakistani tribesmen.

Five Al Qaeda fighters, who escaped while being transported from Parachinar to Kohat along with other prisoners, are still missing. They cannot possibly hide without tribal assistance. Hundreds of soldiers and militiamen, heavily armed and backed up by helicopters, are still combing parts of Kurram agency and other tribal areas to capture the five Arabs. Of the 237 Arabs held in a prison in Kohat, about 15 have been handed over to the US military authorities.

So keen was Pakistan's military government to cooperate with the US in its so-called war on terrorism that it sent its troops to the Afghanistan border during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr. The troops had to cope with sub-zero temperatures and work in mountainous terrain covered with snow. The soldiers were often ill equipped to tackle infiltrators in the dark. There were also considerable risks involved in mounting such an operation in an area where sympathy for bin Laden and the Taliban is strong. The Taliban's defeat at the hands of the US has enraged tribal people, who are Pushtoon like the bulk of the Taliban.

At least seven Pakistani servicemen lost their lives when some Al Qaeda prisoners staged an uprising while being transported to Kohat. Six Al Qaeda fighters also lost their lives in the encounter.

Without Pakistan's active support, the US would have taken much longer to accomplish whatever it has achieved in Afghanistan, that too with minimum casualties. The remaining goals of the US campaign also require Pakistan's involvement.

Pakistan has always been concerned about the prospect of facing hostile neighbours on both its western and eastern borders. To some extent, such a nightmarish situation has now arisen because the Northern Alliance that dominates the new interim Afghan government isn't a friend of Pakistan.

Rather, the Northern Alliance, in particular its Tajik component led by Defence Minister Mohammed Qasim Faheem, Interior Minister Mohammed Yunis Qanooni and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, are more friendly to India. The families of the three ministers live in India and are grateful to New Delhi for giving them refuge. Pakistan, on the other hand, is banking on the interim leader Hamid Karzai, whose family has lived in the Pakistani city of Quetta for the past 20 years.

Islamabad also knows that the Pushtoon Afghan tribes living in the areas bordering Pakistan don't support the Northern Alliance and will, therefore, not pose any problem for Pakistan. Besides, these tribes and their commanders are hugely dependent on Pakistan for many things and would thus like to be friends with Islamabad. Islamabad, therefore, hasn't yet felt the need to deploy its troops on all sensitive points on the border with Afghanistan. Instead it has stationed some soldiers and militia personnel in tribal areas such as Kurram and Khyber that overlook Tora Bora in a bid to stop Al Qaeda fighters, and possibly Osama bin Laden, from entering Pakistan.