Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 26, 2001
Pakistan suffered a major diplomatic
and strategic setback on Wednesday when the U.S. declared that its frontline
ally would have to take a backseat in determining the future dispensation
in Afghanistan.
Testifying at a Congressional hearing,
held on makeshift surroundings because of the anthrax scare, Secretary
of state Colin Powell firmly rejected a major Pakistani role in the formation
of the next government and asserted it will have to be an international
effort.
"It won't work if any one country
dictates what the future of the government will look like. The next government
of Afghanistan cannot be dictated into being by Pakistan," Mr Powell said.
He also diminished Pakistan's self-proclaimed
role as the king-maker in Kabul by suggesting Washington was not enthused
about the largely-Pashtun meeting convened by Islamabad in Peshawar.
Mr Powell chose to inform the panel
of a parallel meeting of other Afghan ethnic groups going on in Turkey.
And in a final blow to Pakistan's
political and diplomatic strategy in the region, Mr Powell declined to
endorse the Pakistani military leaders' contention that the terrorists
in Afghanistan were different from the so-called freedom-fighters in Jammu
and Kashmir, pointedly saying "that is a distinction he makes, not me."
Mr Powell's comment came against
the backdrop of the U.S. strike outside Kabul that killed some two dozen
terrorists belonging to the Harkat - ul - Mujaheddin, an outfit originally
sponsored by the Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI).
Reports of the terrorists' presence
in Afghanistan, while vindicating India's contention of cross-border terrorism
stretching from Kabul and Kandahar to Kashmir, has hugely embarrassed Islamabad.
Adding to Islamabad's discomfort is the attack on the U.S. Army helicopters
inside Pakistani territory as they sought to retrieve a crashed Black Hawk.
Forced to retreat in the face of firing by jehadi elements, the U.S. has
now instructed Pakistan to sanitise the area so its forces can return for
the retrieval operation.
Pak tried to disown its hand in
the terror network by declining to accept the bodies of the so-called Mujaheddin,
much in the same way it turned its back on its own soldiers and irregulars
who were killed during the Kargil war.
But loud declamations of responsibility
from jehadi groups in Pakistan, some of which have threatened retaliatory
attacks on the U.S., has put the Musharraf regime in a fix.
