Pakistan order to kill US invaders

Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | September 13, 2008

KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.

The move has plunged relations between Islamabad and Washington into deep crisis over how to deal with al-Qa'ida and the Taliban

What amounts to a dramatic order to "kill the invaders", as one senior officer put it last night, was disclosed after the commanders - who control the army's deployments at divisional level - met at their headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi under the chairmanship of army chief and former ISI spy agency boss Ashfaq Kayani.

Leading English-language newspaper The News warned in an editorial that the US determination to attack targets inside Pakistan was likely to be "the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had", with even "moderates" outraged by it.

The "retaliate and kill" order came amid reports of unprecedentedly fierce fighting in the Bajaur Agency of Pakistan's tribal areas, an al-Qa'ida stronghold frequently mentioned as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

At the same time, a series of brutal killings by the militants were reported.

The beheaded bodies of two of nearly 40 police recruits abducted a week ago were found near the town of Hangu. Their discovery follows warnings that the recruits would be put to death, one by one, unless Pakistan stopped its big offensive in Bajaur.

The bodies of three local Bajaur men who had been shot in the neck were also found yesterday. Notes were attached declaring the men to have been spies.

In a day of what appears to have been unrelenting combat in Bajaur, helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and tanks were used to strike al-Qa'ida targets.

Officials said at least 100 militants had been killed, bringing the number who have died in the six weeks since the offensive was launched to well over 700. The figure is regarded as remarkable, given that NATO forces in Afghanistan seldom achieve a "kill" rate of more than about 30 in any single operation. Many of those killed are reported to have been "foreign fighters" - mostly Arabs and Central Asians, who have been flooding into Pakistan's tribal areas to join al-Qa'ida and the Taliban.

Ground troops are said to have moved into key areas formerly controlled by the militants, despite a promised ceasefire marking the holy month of Ramadan.

"We launched strikes against militant hideouts in Bajaur and destroyed several compounds they were using," an official was quoted as saying.

The order to retaliate against incursions by "foreign troops", directed specifically at the 120,000 Pakistani soldiers deployed along the border with Afghanistan, follows US President George W. Bush's authorisation of US attacks in Pakistan.

Washington's determination to launch such attacks has caused outrage across Pakistan, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last night strongly backing a warning by General Kayani that Pakistan would not allow its territorial integrity to be violated.

The "kill" order against invading forces, and the sharp deterioration in relations with the US, has far-reaching implications for the war on terror.

Anger at all levels in Pakistani society was summed up last night in The News, not normally sympathetic to the militants.

"There is an escalating sense of furious impotence among the ordinary people of Pakistan," the newspaper said.

"Many - perhaps most - of them are strongly opposed to the spread of Talibanisation and extremist influence across the country: people who might be described as 'moderates'.

"Many of them have no sympathy for the mullahs and their burning of girls' schools and their medieval mindset.

"But if you bomb a moderate sensibility often enough, it has a tendency to lose its sense of objectivity and to feel driven in the direction of extremism.

"If America bombs moderate sensibilities often enough, you may find that its actions are the best recruiting sergeant that the extremists ever had."

Pakistan sends fighter jets to tribal region

www.chinaview.cn 2008-09-13 20:10:29

Pakistani Military Warns U.S. on Raids

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Pakistani military on Friday warned that it could strike back at U.S. soldiers if they conducted cross-border raids from Afghanistan, escalating the tension between the allies as U.S. missiles again pounded suspected militant hideouts.

Reuters

Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, seen here meeting with commandos in July, has said American incursions won't be tolerated.

A statement issued Friday by the Pakistani military at the end of a two-day meeting said the government and military agreed on the need to defend the nation. "Pakistani troops on the spot will retaliate for any actions across the border," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief military spokesman, said. He didn't provide details of possible actions, but the orders raised the prospect of the two allies shooting at each other even as they both increase the targeting of militants.

The Pakistani stance comes after it was revealed earlier this week that U.S. President George W. Bush approved secret orders in July clearing the way for Special Operations forces to conduct ground assaults in Pakistan without that government's permission. U.S. commandos backed by a helicopter gunship recently raided a village in Pakistan's border region, prompting a furious reaction in Pakistan.

The U.S. also has stepped up its missile attacks. On Friday, two missiles fired from an unmanned drone hit a suspected militant hideout, killing at least 14, the seventh known missile strike since Aug. 20.

Pakistan's government has tolerated the missile strikes, but military officials and politicians have warned repeatedly that U.S. troop sorties into Pakistan would be considered a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. The Pakistani military has embarked on its own massive offensive in the border region, killing about 120 militants in the past two days.

The White House and State Department on Friday declined to comment on any aspect of the U.S. operations, including the rules of engagement. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asked by a reporter to clarify the authority for the raids, said only, "I would just say that our commanders, I think, have the authorities that they need to protect our troops in Afghanistan, and just leave it at that."

A U.S. military official dismissed the hard-line Pakistani rhetoric as bluster meant for consumption within Pakistan, where the recent American strikes have sparked a public outcry. The official said that Islamabad hadn't begun to take concrete measures, like limiting the number of American drone flights over Pakistani soil.

But the official cautioned that the growing numbers of U.S. forces operating in or near Pakistan increases the odds of a friendly-fire incident between the two countries. The official also noted that American commanders in the region have long felt that some Pakistani units deployed to the border areas actively cooperate with the Taliban and al Qaeda to launch attacks against American forces.

"One possibility is an accident between our guys and their guys, and one possibility is that the Pak military shoots at our guys intentionally, as we believe they've done before," the official said.

Still, the likelihood of firefights between the allies appears slim, at least for now. Pakistan's government is counting on more aid from the U.S., after receiving more than $10 billion in assistance since the terrorist attacks of September 2001. U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D., Del.) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.) have introduced a bill that would triple the current level of nonmilitary aid to $1.5 billion annually over five years. The government needs aid and investment to avoid defaulting on its sovereign debt, analysts say.

But the substance of Pakistan's threat will be fully known only if U.S. and Pakistani troops encounter each other on a combat mission. And Pakistan's repeated, escalating rhetoric underscores how seriously it takes the issue. Earlier this week, Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, warned that U.S. incursions into Pakistan wouldn't be tolerated and that Pakistani forces would defend national sovereignty at all costs. "There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces allowing them to strike inside Pakistan," he said.

The rise in U.S. strikes came as Pervez Musharraf, a strong U.S. ally, was ousted as Pakistan's president and succeeded by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He was sworn into office earlier this week.

Mr. Zardari has vowed to take tough measures to combat terrorism, raising speculation that the government has given the green light to U.S. raids. But a government spokeswoman said there were no differences between the government and the military.