Mansoor Ijaz is back from South Asia and has checked in with an interview on Fox News as well as a new article at NRO. He has a lot of advice for the U.S. and for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Mansoor's a smart guy and he bases his statements on firsthand knowledge -- worth reading the whole thing.
Musharraf may still be the best bet for stabilizing a very dangerous region, but he's not invincible and no U.S. president should ever again rely on a single man to represent the alliance between two nations.Posted by Alan at June 27, 2003 12:19 PMAsking Musharraf to settle his self-manufactured domestic political crisis, in which Islamist parties demand his overly broad powers of governance be curtailed, must be at the top of the Bush agenda whether bilateral protocols allow for it or not. Its resolution alone will define the manner in which the general can move on matters of most concern to ordinary Americans.
For the U.S., ending the operations of Osama bin Laden's terror franchises on Pakistani soil is a vital first step. It is no longer acceptable for Pakistan to deem itself a key ally in the war on terror while terrorist plotting against the U.S. and its allies continues and bin Laden maintains refuge in Pakistan's northern tribal regions. Neither is it acceptable that the American people be extorted over a few al Qaeda arrests every time Pakistan's bank balances need replenishing, or hawkish generals run to Musharraf to demand more funding for the next generation of nuclear-capable missiles.
Pakistani intelligence has had a pretty good idea of bin Laden's whereabouts for some time. President Bush must tell his guest that Pakistan's babysitting services are no longer needed. The Iraq campaign is over. Al Qaeda cells in Europe and the Middle East have been largely dismantled or are at least under surveillance. And so the time has come to bring the Saudi fugitive to justice before new cells can regenerate and attempt another major terrorist attack.