Last night ABC’s Brian Ross reported that Osama bin Laden has been offered sanctuary in Pakistan. This morning ABC and other news sources are denying this report.
You can watch the video of Brian Ross’s original report here. You can draw your own conclusions about who got to whom.
Whether bin Laden was involved in the deal or not, Pakistan did make a deal with the Taliban that amounts to a one-finger salute at President Bush. Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press report:
The Pakistani government and pro-Taliban militants announced that they signed a peace accord Tuesday aimed at ending five years of violent unrest in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The agreement came as a NATO-led offensive in southern Afghanistan continued for a fourth day, with U.S. artillery and airstrikes killing 50 to 60 suspected Taliban militants Tuesday, a NATO spokesman said.
Under the peace deal, the militants are to halt attacks on Pakistani forces in the semiautonomous North Waziristan region and stop crossing into nearby eastern Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces hunting Qaeda and Taliban forces. It came as Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf, was set to visit Kabul on Wednesday in a move aimed at improving strained relations between the United States’ two key allies in the fight against terrorism.
The accord calls for Pakistani troops to stop their hugely unpopular military campaign in the restive Pakistani region, in which more than 350 soldiers have died, along with hundreds of militants and scores of civilians.
But the agreement, which one official said offered an “implicit amnesty” to foreign and local militants, highlights the Pakistani military’s inability to crush a violent pro-Taliban insurgency on its own soil.
Pakistani forces had no alternative but to reconcile with the militants, whose knowledge of the terrain and determination to protect their region would have forced the conflict to continue, said Rusul Basksh Rais, a Pakistani political analyst.
Pamela Constable reports for the Washington Post:
Reached as Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, prepared to visit the Afghan capital Wednesday, the accord aroused alarm among some analysts in Afghanistan. They expressed concern that, whatever the militias promise, a Pakistani army withdrawal might backfire, emboldening the groups to operate more freely in Pakistan and to infiltrate more aggressively into Afghanistan to fight U.S. and allied forces there.
“This could be a very dangerous development,” said one official at an international agency, speaking anonymously because the issue is sensitive in both countries. “Until recently there has been relative stability in eastern Afghanistan, but now that could start to deteriorate.”
The agreement could add a new element of tension to Musharraf’s visit, aimed at smoothing over his relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The two Muslim leaders, both allies in the U.S.-led war against Islamic extremists, have clashed heatedly over allegations that Taliban forces in Afghanistan are receiving support and shelter from inside Pakistan.
Pakistan’s move also appeared to complicate the U.S. role in the region. U.S. officials have praised Musharraf for his help in capturing al-Qaeda members and refrained from pressing him hard on cross-border violence. A withdrawal of Pakistani forces could reduce pressure on al-Qaeda figures believed to be hiding in the region, including Osama bin Laden, allowing them more freedom of action.
NATO forces are currently in a fierce conflict with Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, where the militia has attacked in rural districts with increasing boldness in recent months. In the past four days, officials said, a NATO military operation in Kandahar province has killed more than 200 insurgents.
Steve M. reports that (per the Right Blogosphere) Pakistan caved to terrorist demands because American lefties got to Musharraf. Fear of Michael Moore? I think not; more likely Musharraf was visited by the ghost of Alger Hiss.
Thinking back to another times righties were instead wrongies,in the 2000 campaign bush couldn’t even name pakistans leaders name…hell he wasn’t even clear how the man he claimed was named “general” came to power…..to which those on the right cried”who cares, like bush will ever need to know the guys name”(I assume they didn’t know either)…some even called the reporter mean, and bush accused him of trying to catch him in a “game of gotcha”, then refused to “play”….
So what now that a country with nukes is playing taliban appeasers, it must be the lefts fault…it couldn’t be bush after all, he is to stupid to even know the guys name. The left”got to ” musharraf????HMMMMM how could that have happened when the NSA is listening to all calls coming in or going out of the country?Does the right assume the left is text messaging pakistan?Perhaps there was a message in a bottle?’DEAR PAKISTAN,PLEASE KISS AND MAKE UP WITH THE TALIBAN. HUGS AND KISSES, THE LEFT”Yeah right I am sure that is how it happened…oh no, I just gave away our methods for communicating with all the terrorists in the world , who all work for KOS you know.
On a more serious note, here is the right, claiming we MUST attack Iran NOW or they may get the nuke in 5-10 years, but old whats-his -name in Pakistan can be pals with the terrorists and currently have nukes and there are no worries “the terrorists” will get control of those nukes, because you know,a guy who’s name our leader doesn’t even know can be trusted….and it isn’t like pakistan is weak enough to have their government overthrown…..uh,,, oops…..
Is there no end to what the righties plan to “bush up”?WTF are they thinking?I bet they want to blame the left for their bush up…if they didnt hurry up and say something to the masses they may have time to figure out for themselves what a major error the bushies have made with Pakistan, the terrorist appeasers they are.
Great timely post….. great comment by justme, too.
Here are a couple of thoughts:
Perhaps Musharrif and Karzai realize the perlious positions Bush and the Republican party are in. If the Republicans loose the House of Reps in the Mid Terms, it could pave the way for impeachment, or at least terminally hobble the President, which would put the current leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan in a VERY bad position.
There is a lot of”chatter” regarding the whereabouts of OBL, perhaps hiding out in Waziristan.If he is indeed hiding out there, it would be akin to being in prison. It’s not like he can travel unbound, I doubt there is a landing strip available for OBL to fly his Lear jet in and out of. If there are “terrorist” training camps there, it is not an easy task to travel to and from the region without being noticed.It (like Iraq and Iran) is most likely under heavy surveillance.Perhaps OBL is dead, is Bush better off with him dead of having the OBL-in-a-box pop up every so often to keep people on edge? Who really knows? Waziristan is part of Pakistan like Idaho is part of the USA.. I’m sure Musharrif does not want a long war going on in his own country for the sake of making America happy. Musharrif will have a price to pay eventually as Bush’s global war on terror makes more enemies within and out side Pakistan and Bush fades away unto history.
Bush is like a kid playing with matches. He has set a fire that may well engulf the entire Mid East, Central Asia, and The Caucasus. The Republic of Georgia has seen attempts on the lives of George Bush (grenade last year) and John McCain (missile this week). The Area is important because the Baku-Tbilisi pipeline.There is “terrorist “activity in the Pankisi gorge region. Look for the war on terror to move there next.
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Perhaps OBL is dead, is Bush better off with him dead of having the OBL-in-a-box pop up every so often to keep people on edge?
I’d say OBL-in-a-box benefits Bush the most. As long as OBL is out there, the al Qaida threat remains alive, and Bush has a well from which to draw both fear and moral authority. As a source of power for Bush, the negative of not capturing OBL doesn’t outwiegh the positive gained by the use of fear in having OBL out there just waiting to strike again.
Well, this all might explain why we stopped looking for bin Laden. Disgusting.