Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Los Angeles Times
March 16, 2007
By Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The U.S. plans to give Pakistan $750 million to economically develop border areas where Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are hiding, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Thursday.
He said the aid, which still needs Congress' approval, would be released over five years to counter extremism in tribal areas along the Afghan border, where a Pakistani military campaign has failed to defeat the militants.
Boucher also said the Pentagon planned to spend an additional $75 million this year to upgrade the Frontier Corps, Pakistan's main border guard force.
He spoke to reporters after talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other officials.
Musharraf is a key ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism. Bur there are signs of growing frustration in Washington over the military ruler's failure to prevent the Taliban from supporting attacks — launched from the tribal areas — on international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Boucher praised Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, for promising to battle extremism. But he also expressed concern about the deals Musharraf has struck with tribal elders in North and South Waziristan — militant strongholds considered possible hiding places for Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri.
Under the deals, tribal elders pledged to halt militancy and cross-border attacks in return for an end to punitive Pakistani military operations that left hundreds of suspected militants, soldiers and civilians dead.
Critics say the deals let militants consolidate their grip on an area steeped in Islamic fundamentalism and hostility to the government.
March 16, 2007
By Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The U.S. plans to give Pakistan $750 million to economically develop border areas where Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are hiding, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Thursday.
He said the aid, which still needs Congress' approval, would be released over five years to counter extremism in tribal areas along the Afghan border, where a Pakistani military campaign has failed to defeat the militants.
Boucher also said the Pentagon planned to spend an additional $75 million this year to upgrade the Frontier Corps, Pakistan's main border guard force.
He spoke to reporters after talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other officials.
Musharraf is a key ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism. Bur there are signs of growing frustration in Washington over the military ruler's failure to prevent the Taliban from supporting attacks — launched from the tribal areas — on international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Boucher praised Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, for promising to battle extremism. But he also expressed concern about the deals Musharraf has struck with tribal elders in North and South Waziristan — militant strongholds considered possible hiding places for Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri.
Under the deals, tribal elders pledged to halt militancy and cross-border attacks in return for an end to punitive Pakistani military operations that left hundreds of suspected militants, soldiers and civilians dead.
Critics say the deals let militants consolidate their grip on an area steeped in Islamic fundamentalism and hostility to the government.