Pakistani tribes vow reprisal for U.S. missile attacks

The new U.S. strategy of unilateral attack against suspected militants inside Pakistani territory is threatening to send moderate Pakistani tribesmen to go fight alongside extremists against coalition forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The move piles more pressure on the fragile new democratic government in Islamabad, which is struggling to defend Pakistan's role in the war on terror against a hostile public that sees U.S. aggression as being as much of a danger as the Islamic militants.

Over the weekend, tribal chiefs in North Waziristan, the part of Pakistan's tribal borderland that was struck by the most recent civilian-killing U.S. missile attack, vowed to take the fight to Afghanistan if the United States does not halt attacks into Pakistan. These community leaders, representing the majority of people in North Waziristan, had not previously supported the extremists, but they are fiercely independent, armed and willing to fight anyone who trespasses on their land. Their anger could easily spread to other six other "agencies" that make up the tribal belt, several of which have also been subject to U.S. attacks.

There has been an intensified bombardment of the tribal territory with U.S. missile strikes against suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda training camps and hideouts, compounded by the first U.S. ground raid into the area earlier this month, apparently in exasperation at Pakistan's inaction.

Reacting to the missile attack Friday in North Waziristan, tribal chiefs from the area, representing around half a million people, called an emergency jirga - or tribal meeting - on Saturday.

"If America doesn't stop attacks in tribal areas, we will prepare a lashkar [tribal army] to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan," tribal chief Malik Nasrullah announced. "We will also seek support from the tribal elders in Afghanistan to fight jointly against America."

During the past month, there have been seven U.S. missile strikes in the tribal area, about the same number as the whole of last year, representing a huge escalation in American intervention in Pakistan. The ground assault, which took place in South Waziristan, provoked a sharp rebuke from the Pakistan army, which is otherwise an ally in the "war on terror." Washington believes that Taliban and al-Qaeda militants fighting the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan use Pakistan's tribal area as a safe haven.

"If the Americans are coming to sort it out with force, they would create more enemies," said Ayaz Wazir, a retired Pakistani diplomat who is a tribal chief from South Waziristan. "The Americans might have supersonic jets and we might have to fight with stones in our hands, but we will stand up."

Analysts believe that U.S. intervention could set the tribal area on fire and reverse a series of recent setbacks for the militants. Some of the Pakistani tribes have risen up against the Taliban, in border areas of Dir and Bajaur, forming lashkars to fight them. The Pakistani military has finally taken on the extremists, in battles in Bajaur and Swat, a valley in the north west, while the democratic government has, for the first time, been trying to make the case to the public that the struggle against the militants is Pakistan's war, not America's.

Pakistan's new President, Asif Ali Zardari, has arrived in Britain, on a private visit but he is expected to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown tomorrow, to discuss the situation along the Pakistan-Afghan border. Mr. Brown is likely to press for greater Pakistani action against militants in the tribal area and may go along with U.S. calls for integrating the tribal territory into the conflict in Afghanistan as one theatre of war - an idea that will be resisted by Pakistan.
Mr. Zardari and Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said in a joint statement during the weekend that: "The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country should be respected at all cost."

An editorial published yesterday in The News, a Pakistani daily, said: "The Islamabad government is aware the U.S. strikes are badly undermining its authority, weakening the standing of the Pakistani army and, as such, aiding the militants in their task of whipping up greater internal support."

Pak troops open fire at US military helicopters

Firing by Pakistani troops forced US military helicopters to turn back to Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani territory in the early hours of Monday, Pakistani security officials said. The incident took place near Angor Adda, a village in the tribal region of South Waziristan where US commandos in helicopters raided a suspected al-Qaida and Taliban camp earlier this month. "The US choppers came into Pakistan by just 100 to 150 metres at Angor Adda. Even then our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away," said one security official. Pakistan is a crucial US ally in its war on terrorism, and its support is key to the success of Western forces trying to stabilise Afghanistan. But Washington has become impatient over Islamabad's response to the threat from al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal regions on the border. At least 20 people, including women and children, were killed in the South Waziristan raid earlier this month, sparking outrage in Pakistan and prompting a diplomatic protest. Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani said in a strongly worded statement last week that Pakistan would not allow foreign troops onto its soil and Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be defended at all costs. Another security official said on Monday that US armoured vehicles were also seen moving on the Afghan side of the border, while US warplanes were seen overhead. He said Pakistani soldiers sounded a bugle call and fired in the air, forcing the helicopters to return to Afghan territory. Military spokesman Major Murad Khan confirmed that there had been shooting. But he said the American helicopters had not crossed into Pakistani airspace and Pakistani troops were not responsible for the firing. "The US choppers were there at the border, but they did not violate our airspace," Khan said. "We confirm that there was a firing incident at the time when the helicopters were there, but our forces were not involved." The New York Times newspaper reported last week that US President George W Bush has given clearance for US raids across the border. The raid on Angor Adda on September 3 was the first overt ground incursion by US troops into Pakistan since the deployment of US forces in Afghanistan in late 2001. The United States has intensified attacks by missile-firing drone aircraft on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistani tribal lands in the past few weeks.

Pakistan army chief criticizes U.S. raid

Pakistan's military chief on Wednesday lashed out at the United States over cross-border raids by American troops from Afghanistan and said his country's sovereignty will be defended “at all cost.”

In an unusually strong public statement, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said a raid last week into Pakistan's South Waziristan region killed innocent civilians and could backfire on the anti-terror allies.

He said such operations were covered by no agreement between Pakistan and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and risked stoking militancy in a region which Washington regards as an intolerably safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

“Falling for short term gains while ignoring our long term interest is not the right way forward,” Gen. Kayani said, according to the statement released through the military's media wing.
“To succeed, the coalition would be required to display strategic patience and help the other side the way they want it, rather than adopting a unilateral approach.”

The Pakistan government already hauled in the U.S. ambassador in Islamabad to lodge a strong protest over a highly unusual raid by helicopter-borne grounds troops into South Waziristan last week which residents said killed about 15 people.

Officials have said they included civilians, though acknowledged they had no first-hand information.

U.S. officials have confirmed that American troops carried out the operation, but provided no details. The objective and results of the mission remain unclear.

Together with a barrage of suspected U.S. missile strikes into Pakistan's border zone, the raid indicates that Washington is getting more aggressive against militant targets beyond Afghanistan's frontier, despite the political fallout in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally.

A U.S. missile strike Monday in the North Waziristan tribal region destroyed a seminary and houses associated with a veteran Taliban commander and killed 20 people, including some women and children as well as four foreign militants, officials said.

The tribal belt is considered a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

Three Pakistani intelligence officials identified the foreign militants as Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of their jobs' sensitivity.

Abu Haris led al-Qaeda efforts in the tribal areas, while Abu Hamza led activities in Peshawar, the main northwest city, according to the intelligence officials, who said they got the details from informants and agents in the field.

Two U.S. officials said the strike was carried out by the CIA. The American officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss CIA operations.
Gen. Kayani had maintained an impeccably low profile since taking over the pivotal position of army chief from U.S. ally and former coup leader Pervez Musharraf last year.

Parties which won February elections forced Mr. Musharraf to quit as president last month. The military, which has dominated Pakistan for much of its 61-year history, has said it will follow the lead of the new civilian government.

But in a measure of the sensitivity surrounding U.S. military action on its soil, even in the tribal belt where the state has minimal control, Wednesday's statement contained Gen. Kayani's first public criticism of American policy.

“The rules of engagement with the coalition forces are well defined” and foresee Pakistan alone taking action against militants inside its borders, Gen. Kayani said. “There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces” that allows them to operate in Pakistan, he said.

The general defended Pakistan's policy of seeking reconciliation in its wild tribal belt. He insisted the army was committed to eliminating militants, but said it had to be sure of popular support.
“Reckless actions” which kill civilians “only help the militants and further fuel the militancy in the area,” he said.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be defended at all cost and no external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan,” he said.