Rebel-turned-Friend-turned-Rebel
Nek Mohammed addressing tribesmen on May 27
Is Musharraf
Doing All He Can to Hunt bin Laden?
By
David Rohde & Mohammed Khan
PESHAWAR: A brash 27-year-old Taliban fighter named Nek Muhammad
is the talk of the town in this famed border city, long a haven
for adventurers, revolutionaries and rogues.
His
defiance raises a central question in the American-led drive against
terrorism: is President Pervez Musharraf doing all he can to hunt
down Osama bin Laden?
Mr. Muhammad soared to national prominence
on March 18, when Pakistani forces surrounded what General Musharraf
had called a "high-value target" near Mr. Muhammad's
home in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border. Suspicions rose that a top leader of Al Qaeda might have
been encircled after Pakistani forces had tried to raid Mr. Muhammad's
house and met unexpectedly stiff resistance.
At the time, General Musharraf vowed
to hunt for hundreds of foreign militants, possibly including
Mr. bin Laden, who are believed to be hiding in the border area.
But for the last few months Pakistani military operations in the
tribal areas have been suspended as General Musharraf's government
has negotiated with Mr. Muhammad.
Pakistani
officials say they remain committed to driving all foreign militants
from the tribal areas, although now they are trying to end the
standoff peacefully. Mehmood Shah, chief of security in the tribal
areas, said in a recent interview that negotiations were worthwhile
but that the Pakistani government was deploying troops and preparing
for a military offensive.
At
dawn on June 9, militants launched surprise attacks on two army
posts with mortars, rockets and machine guns, killing at least
13 Pakistani soldiers and scouts, according to Pakistani intelligence
officials. Mr. Shah declined to comment on the number of government
casualties, but said at least six militants had been killed, including
three believed to be Uzbeks and Chechens. The posts, six miles
apart, border the Shakai Valley, where hundreds of foreign militants
are believed to be hiding, officials said.
One Pakistani military official who
spoke on condition of anonymity said the government was taking
advantage of the American focus on Iraq to delay acting in the
tribal areas. The official said the government hoped to wait out
American demands for action until the presidential election was
over and American attention and pressure might drop.
Militants, meanwhile, continue to
use the area as a haven, a recruiting base and an incubator, according
to Afghan officials and Western diplomats. After slumping in late
March during fighting around Wana, attacks by suspected Taliban
in Afghanistan have returned to previous levels. A string of terrorist
attacks has also hit Pakistan, with three bombings in Karachi
in May.
Mr. Muhammad's compound was raided
in March after he appeared in a DVD used to recruit militants,
and promised to protect foreign fighters.
"They have fought a jihad against
the Russians and before them the British," Mr. Muhammad declared.
"Now that the Americans are here we will wage jihad against
them."
After the initial clash at Mr. Muhammad's
compound, a pitched battle ensued. House-to-house fighting raged
near the town of Wana; militants ambushed government convoys in
outlying areas; and rockets were fired into Peshawar. The government
appeared to be facing an open rebellion in the tribal areas.
Several days later, the army declared
a successful end to the operation. But the "high-value target,"
if there ever had been one, escaped. Other wanted militants, including
Mr. Muhammad, slipped away too.
All told, at least 60 soldiers and
another 60 militants died in the fighting, including eight soldiers
whom the militants executed after their capture.
After the clashes, many expected
a crushing military response from General Musharraf, who narrowly
escaped two assassination attempts in December thought to have
been ordered by Al Qaeda.
Instead, his government started negotiating
with Mr. Muhammad, a small, photogenic young man whose long jet-black
hair and beard give him the air of a revolutionary. Pro-government
tribesmen call him a common criminal who is paid enormous amounts
of money by the foreign militants they say he shelters.
After several weeks of negotiations,
Pakistani officials announced that a deal had been reached. In
a moment of tribal theater on April 24, a Pakistani Army corps
commander flew to the remote village of Shakai to accept the surrender
of Mr. Muhammad and four other wanted Pakistani militants.
Mr. Muhammad and his brethren presented
the corps commander with a Kalashnikov rifle, a pistol and an
old, rusted sword. They then promised to live peacefully and not
use Pakistani soil to carry out attacks on neighboring countries.
In return, the corps commander pardoned all of them, including
Mr. Muhammad.
Minutes after the conclusion of the
ceremony, Mr. Muhammad appeared to backtrack. He told Pakistani
journalists that he would continue to wage jihad, said no foreigners
were hiding in the area and professed his loyalty to the leader
of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar.
He also later disavowed a central
tenet of the deal. Government officials said Mr. Muhammad had
agreed that all foreigners in the tribal areas would register
with the government within six days. Mr. Muhammad said no such
agreement had been reached.
In the weeks since Mr. Muhammad's
"surrender," not a single foreigner has registered,
according to Pakistani officials. Some officials in Washington,
while continuing to publicly support General Musharraf, have privately
expressed concern that Pakistan is backtracking in the hunt for
Mr. bin Laden.
Militants continue to recruit. In
recent weeks a new professionally produced Pashto-language recruiting
DVD has begun circulating in the tribal areas.
The DVD features computer graphics
and crisp, well-shot digital images of the March battle in Wana,
taken from the perspective of the militants. As the narrator assails
General Musharraf for "allying with the infidels," burning
Pakistani Army convoys, dead Pakistani soldiers and heroic-looking
militants flash across the screen.
For
35 minutes, images of American soldiers abusing Iraqis, Israeli
soldiers abusing Palestinians and Pakistani soldiers abusing Pakistani
civilians are weaved into a mosaic. The DVD concludes with a one-line
message: "Let's wage jihad." - Courtesy The New
York Times
