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| Ranks of foreign militants swelling in Fata: Mullen |
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Says safe haven elimination a must; US troops approach Pak border areas; telecom links in Kurram Agency severed
KABUL: More foreign fighters, including al-Qaeda militants, are operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas than in the past, underscoring the need for Pakistan to crack down on insurgent safe havens, the top US military officer said during a visit to Kabul on Thursday.
Adm Mike Mullen said militants are flowing into Afghanistan more freely this year compared with last year because Pakistan’s government and military are not putting enough pressure on insurgents.
“There’s a clear problem on the border,’’ Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. “There’s clearly not enough pressure being brought to bear, particularly on the Pakistan side of the border. There’s more freedom there’’, he said. “There’s a new government in Pakistan who is working its way through figuring out how to get at the extremist challenge.’’
Mullen said that a recent pact Pakistan’s government made to go after militants who don’t agree to lay down their weapons could be useful if it’s enforced. Previous peace deals in Pakistan’s tribal areas only gave insurgents freedom to carry out militant operations.
``There are clearly more foreign fighters in the FATA (Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas) than have been there in the past,’’ he added. ``What it really speaks to is that’s a safe haven and it’s got to be eliminated for all insurgents, not just al-Qaida, although al-Qaeda certainly is a top priority because of the threat al-Qaeda represents.’’ On the subject of Iran’s testing of long-range missiles, Mullen said this week’s exercises come at a ``very tense time.’’
``It has the potential to send signals,’’ he said of the tests.``That said, I’m still very much in the position that we need to bring international pressure, diplomatic pressure on the Iranians, as fast and as intense as we can to see if we can resolve this tension. This doesn’t help in terms of the instability that’s in theregion already.’’
Mullen said the tests show that Iran is on the path to a ``fairly significant’’ technical and military ability that ``raises theante’’ in the Middle East. US intelligence officials say there has been an increase in foreign fighters travelling to Pakistan to join up with al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country’s tribal areas, the New York Times reported Thursday.
US intelligence and military sources told the newspaper that dozens or more Uzbeks, North Africans and Arabs from Gulf states have moved into Pakistan in recent months, shoring up the al-Qaeda forces which are backing the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A US military spokesman in Baghdad told the Times that there has been a corresponding drop in the number of foreign fighters entering Iraq, now less than 40 a month compared to up to 110 a month one year ago.
“The flow may reflect a change that is making Pakistan, not Iraq, the preferred destination for some Sunni extremists from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia who are seeking to take up arms against the West,” the Times wrote, citing the officials.
General David McKiernan, the new NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the situation in Pakistan’s northwestern border areas, where al-Qaeda and other militants are allegedly based, has worsened. “The porous border has allowed militant groups a greater freedom of movement across that border, as well as a greater freedom to resupply, to allow leadership to sustain stronger sanctuaries, and to provide fighters across that border,” McKiernan told the Times.
A US defence official told the Times that the flow of foreign fighters into Pakistan has increased “from a trickle to a steady stream,” especially after Pakistan’s government cut back tribal area operations in March and launched talks with local leaders in hopes of halting militant activities.
Private US intelligence firm Stratfor predicted in a report this week that “it is only a matter of time before Washington escalates its unilateral military operations deeper into Pakistani territory” - a move experts warned could worsen “collateral” damage and fuel anti-Americanism. —AP/AFP
Mushtaq Yusufzai adds from Peshawar: A large number of US troops based in Afghanistan have been moved to the border areas of Pakistan’s Kurram and North Waziristan tribal agencies.
Also, telecommunication services to the border areas including the Kurram Agency have been suspended as more than 150 telephone exchanges became dead. Official sources as well as local residents of the border areas told this correspondent by satellite phone that the US troops started setting up camps close to the border with Pakistan’s Kurram and North Waziristan tribal regions.
They said the US troops also shifted heavy weapons to the border, which created panic among the people living near these areas. During their movement towards the border, US gunship choppers were seen giving air cover to the troops and violated Pakistan’s airspace for a number of times.
The massive deployment of the US forces in these areas harassed the people of Upper and Lower Kurram Agency as well as the residents of adjoining settled areas of Thall and Hangu. People in the area said there were rumours that the US troops were mobilised to attack them.
The suspension of communication services of more than 150 telephone exchanges has further aggravated the concern of the people. Besides telephone exchanges, services of all cellular phone companies operating in these areas were also severed. Despite several attempts, DG ISPR Maj Gen Athar Abbas could not be approached for official version.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
