'Pakistan Warns US on Attacking Al Qaeda on Its Own
By Eric Schmitt
The New York Times
Washington - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan warned in an interview published Friday that any unilateral attacks by the United States against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in his country's tribal areas would be treated as an invasion.
But Mr. Musharraf also left open the possibility of American and Pakistani forces working together in broader combined operations to kill or capture senior Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in the rugged border area near Afghanistan.
"You're talking about Osama bin Laden; any action against him will be free, if we know where he is, if we have good intelligence," Mr. Musharraf told The Straits Times of Singapore. "The methodology of getting him will be discussed together, and we'll attack the target together."
Asked in the interview about a proposal under review by President Bush's senior national security advisers to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas, Mr. Musharraf said he would oppose the conduct of unilateral strikes by American forces without Pakistani approval.
"Nobody will come here until we ask them to come, and we haven't asked them," Mr. Musharraf said in his first public statements about the proposal, which was reported in The New York Times on Sunday.
"Certainly, if they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan," he continued.
"There is a perception in the United States as if what our army cannot do, they can do," he said. "This is a very wrong perception. I challenge anyone coming into our mountains. They would regret that day."
Mr. Musharraf is not alone or extreme in this view. An array of experts, including Pakistani military analysts and American counterterrorism specialists, say that United States troops would be seen as an invasion force by the Pakistani public. They argue that American raids would fail and increase public support for militants, who say they are trying to free Pakistan from American domination.
When asked Friday about expanded covert operations in the tribal areas, American officials publicly deferred to Mr. Musharraf and his top advisers.
"Certainly anything that the United States has done and anything the United States will do will be in full cooperation with the Pakistani government," said a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey.'
But Mr. Musharraf also left open the possibility of American and Pakistani forces working together in broader combined operations to kill or capture senior Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in the rugged border area near Afghanistan.
"You're talking about Osama bin Laden; any action against him will be free, if we know where he is, if we have good intelligence," Mr. Musharraf told The Straits Times of Singapore. "The methodology of getting him will be discussed together, and we'll attack the target together."
Asked in the interview about a proposal under review by President Bush's senior national security advisers to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas, Mr. Musharraf said he would oppose the conduct of unilateral strikes by American forces without Pakistani approval.
"Nobody will come here until we ask them to come, and we haven't asked them," Mr. Musharraf said in his first public statements about the proposal, which was reported in The New York Times on Sunday.
"Certainly, if they come without our permission, that's against the sovereignty of Pakistan," he continued.
"There is a perception in the United States as if what our army cannot do, they can do," he said. "This is a very wrong perception. I challenge anyone coming into our mountains. They would regret that day."
Mr. Musharraf is not alone or extreme in this view. An array of experts, including Pakistani military analysts and American counterterrorism specialists, say that United States troops would be seen as an invasion force by the Pakistani public. They argue that American raids would fail and increase public support for militants, who say they are trying to free Pakistan from American domination.
When asked Friday about expanded covert operations in the tribal areas, American officials publicly deferred to Mr. Musharraf and his top advisers.
"Certainly anything that the United States has done and anything the United States will do will be in full cooperation with the Pakistani government," said a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey.'
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