PAKISTAN: Aide to President General Pervez Musharraf says U.S. faces a snowballing war in Afghanistan and will suffer a military disaster unless they back peaceful resolution

Record ID: 1539787

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Aide to President General Pervez Musharraf says U.S. faces a snowballing war in Afghanistan and will suffer a military disaster unless they back peaceful resolution
  • Date: 25th November 2006
  • Summary: (BN16) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (NOVEMBER 24, 2006)(REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FRONTIER HOUSE ALI MOHAMMAD JAN AURAKZAI, GOVERNOR OF PAKISTAN'S NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE, SHAKING HANDS WITH REUTERS REPORTERS OFFICIAL AURAKZAI LISTENING TO QUESTION
  • Embargoed: 10th December 2006 12:28
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEHSUILMAC8OXDQWVJVLQP1L06
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The United States and NATO face a snowballing war in Afghanistan and will suffer a military disaster unless they back peaceful means to end the conflict, one of Pakistan's most influential officials said on Friday (November 24).
    Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, the governor of North West Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan, said Washington, NATO and the Afghan government were "closing their eyes" to the reality that a military-based strategy was making matters worse.
    "Today everybody, you know, in the Afghan government and the coalition forces, they are closing their eyes to reality. But soon they will be coming out with statements, very openly criticising the same policy that they are following today. And I tell you it has the potential of spreading," Aurakzai told Reuters in an interview at Islamabad.
    Asked why this danger was being overlooked, Aurakzai said he was not sure.
    "I don't know. Either it's lack of understanding or it is lack of courage to admit their failures. Like in Iraq. It was the lack of courage to admit their faults. They have admitted now but there was a very heavy cost," he said.
    Rather than fighting just the Taliban, Aurakzai said, NATO forces now faced a wider revolt from Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic majority that had grown alienated because of indiscriminate bombings, economic deprivation and a lack of representation.
    "Women and children have died. So those people, you know, out of frustration and also to take revenge they've started gravitating towards the Taliban who provide the leadership, who provide the focal point. So, in a way, it is turning into a nationalist movement," he said.
    Aurakzai, a retired lieutenant-general, commanded Pakistani forces in NWFP province and its semi-autonomous tribal belt from just after Sept. 11 2001 until March 2004 and is a trusted aide to President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally.
    Musharraf appointed him governor of NWFP in May.
    Aurakzai was the architect of a deal in September with tribal leaders in the North Waziristan region of NWFP which halted fighting between the army and militant tribesmen and was meant to prevent infiltration into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban.
    U.S. military officials in Kabul have said insurgent activities have tripled since the truce was called, but Aurakzai said linking the statistics to the peace accord was nonsensical.
    He is now pushing for a similar deal to be struck among the tribes on both sides of the border with Afghanistan through a jirga, or tribal council, a traditional means of conciliation among warring parties in Pashtun society.
    Aurakzai, who comes from the tribal belt himself, said he had outlined his proposal to President George W. Bush when he accompanied Musharraf to the White House in September.
    He had told Bush that after five years the military strategy had failed to achieve any of the U.S. objectives in Afghanistan.
    Aurakzai said Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar remained at large, reconstruction had been minimal and democracy did not exist beyond "the confines of a few palaces in Kabul."
    He said it was time to realise that the strategy was obviously not working.
    "Well, I think it has not succeeded. There may be some minor successes, partial successes, but Osama bin Laden is still not apprehended. Al Qaeda as a threat remains, and remains not only in Afghanistan, it is a global phenomenon. In fact, if it is all over the globe, so why are you looking for al Qaeda in Afghanistan alone?" he said.
    This year's fighting in Afghanistan has been the worst since the hardline Islamist Taliban were toppled by U.S.-led forces in 2001, with more than 3,700 people killed, over a quarter of them civilians, according to some estimates.
    According to Aurakzai, the 32,000 British-led NATO forces were too few to defeat the insurgency, and if the West thought "that military was the only option, they should bring another 50,000 troops."
    However, he said President Musharraf agreed with him that a political strategy needed to be given a chance.
    "And if we can achieve the same objectives through political process I think it is the more economical method to do it. And if we succeed, very good, and if not then who is stopping us from reverting to military strategy," he said.
    Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have traded allegations over the violence, with Karzai accusing Pakistan of allowing foreign and Pakistani militants and al Qaeda operatives to use tribal areas in NWFP as a rear base.
    Aurakzai dismissed the accusations. He said peace pacts in North and South Waziristan had stopped infiltration and he still hoped for a similar deal in another tribal area, Bajaur.
    A Pakistani air strike on a religious school in Bajaur late last month, which authorities say killed 80 militants, was followed by a revenge suicide bombing that killed 42 army recruits.
    Musharraf sent the army into Waziristan in 2003 to flush out al Qaeda fighters. The campaign was deeply unpopular with many Pakistanis, who saw Musharraf as killing his own people at Washington's bidding.
    Aurakzai said the unrest was spreading before the North Waziristan pact and if that trend had been allowed to continue it could have threatened the stability of the rest of the country.
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