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PAKISTAN'S top spymaster - the boss of the powerful ISI intelligence agency accused of double-dealing with the militants - was under intense pressure to quit last night as Islamist forces poured into the country to resist a security clampdown in the restive border region.
As militants have begun rushing back from Afghanistan - along with al-Qa'ida cadres from Iraq - into Pakistan to join the "Battle of Bajaur" in Pakistan's tribal belt, "sorting out the ISI" has taken on a new urgency among US strategists.
The conflict in Bajaur, a tribal agency close to the border with Afghanistan, is seen as a litmus test of the new Pakistan Government's ability to defeat Taliban and al-Qa'ida militants who use the border regions to mount attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan and send suicide bombers into Pakistani cities.
US officials have praised the Bajaur effort, saying it has reduced violence in the neighbouring region of Afghanistan.
But Washington is understood to be exerting intense pressure on Pakistan to remove ISI boss Nadeem Taj and two of his deputies because of the key agency's alleged "double-dealing" with the militants.
Amid the testiness of the past fortnight over US military incursions into Pakistani territory, Washington remains determined to maintain co-operation with Pakistan in order to deal with the militant surge.
But Washington strategists believe the ISI is inhibiting that co-operation.
Just last month, US President George W.Bush told Pakistani leaders that it was "impossible to share intelligence on al-Qa'ida and the Taliban with Pakistan because it goes straight back to the militants".
According to well-placed sources, "changing the culture" of the ISI, given its pre-eminence in Pakistan's military and intelligence structure, is essential to loosening the grip of militants' who now control vast swaths of the tribal areas.
Pakistan's army has been fighting militants in the region for nearly two months to regain control of the border with Afghanistan and claims to have killed more than 1000 rebels. Some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes.
But the army is still facing stiff resistance, with militants at the weekend mounting multiple counter-attacks.
"We've never seen anything like this before: fighters doing battle against the coalition in Afghanistan being sent back to join in the battle in Bajaur. That's an indication of how important this is for all sides," one senior diplomatic analyst said in Islamabad last night.
The operation in Bajaur, launched largely under US pressure, is suspected to have sparked furious extremists into bombing the Marriott hotel in Islamabad just over a week ago, they say.
"Bajaur is the centre of gravity of the militant movement," Major General Tariq Khan, commander of the 8000 Pakistani troops now deployed in the desperate fight in Bajaur, told reporters last night.
"If they lose here, they lose everything. We will eradicate 60 per cent of militancy from Pakistan if we win this battle in Bajaur," he added.
But the cost has been high in Bajaur.
"Pakistan's army has never faced this level of resistance since it launched operations in the tribal areas (in 2003)," a senior military official told AFP. "Every day fighter jets are used, every day Cobras are used, yet we cannot break their strongholds."
Bajaur is frequently suggested as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden. His deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been spotted in the neighbouring Mohmand tribal agency, but there has been no sign of the al-Qa'ida leader.
While Pakistani commanders in Bajaur say they could effectively snuff out the militants in the area within a fortnight, others are less optimistic, pointing out that the fighting - and the human tide of refugees resulting from it - has caused widespread resentment.
Many are also dubious about the high "kill" rate claimed by Pakistan, maintaining that many of those who are dying are civilians, and any al-Qa'ida person who is killed is always "a commander".
As militants have begun rushing back from Afghanistan - along with al-Qa'ida cadres from Iraq - into Pakistan to join the "Battle of Bajaur" in Pakistan's tribal belt, "sorting out the ISI" has taken on a new urgency among US strategists.
The conflict in Bajaur, a tribal agency close to the border with Afghanistan, is seen as a litmus test of the new Pakistan Government's ability to defeat Taliban and al-Qa'ida militants who use the border regions to mount attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan and send suicide bombers into Pakistani cities.
US officials have praised the Bajaur effort, saying it has reduced violence in the neighbouring region of Afghanistan.
But Washington is understood to be exerting intense pressure on Pakistan to remove ISI boss Nadeem Taj and two of his deputies because of the key agency's alleged "double-dealing" with the militants.
Amid the testiness of the past fortnight over US military incursions into Pakistani territory, Washington remains determined to maintain co-operation with Pakistan in order to deal with the militant surge.
But Washington strategists believe the ISI is inhibiting that co-operation.
Just last month, US President George W.Bush told Pakistani leaders that it was "impossible to share intelligence on al-Qa'ida and the Taliban with Pakistan because it goes straight back to the militants".
According to well-placed sources, "changing the culture" of the ISI, given its pre-eminence in Pakistan's military and intelligence structure, is essential to loosening the grip of militants' who now control vast swaths of the tribal areas.
Pakistan's army has been fighting militants in the region for nearly two months to regain control of the border with Afghanistan and claims to have killed more than 1000 rebels. Some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes.
But the army is still facing stiff resistance, with militants at the weekend mounting multiple counter-attacks.
"We've never seen anything like this before: fighters doing battle against the coalition in Afghanistan being sent back to join in the battle in Bajaur. That's an indication of how important this is for all sides," one senior diplomatic analyst said in Islamabad last night.
The operation in Bajaur, launched largely under US pressure, is suspected to have sparked furious extremists into bombing the Marriott hotel in Islamabad just over a week ago, they say.
"Bajaur is the centre of gravity of the militant movement," Major General Tariq Khan, commander of the 8000 Pakistani troops now deployed in the desperate fight in Bajaur, told reporters last night.
"If they lose here, they lose everything. We will eradicate 60 per cent of militancy from Pakistan if we win this battle in Bajaur," he added.
But the cost has been high in Bajaur.
"Pakistan's army has never faced this level of resistance since it launched operations in the tribal areas (in 2003)," a senior military official told AFP. "Every day fighter jets are used, every day Cobras are used, yet we cannot break their strongholds."
Bajaur is frequently suggested as the most likely lair of Osama bin Laden. His deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been spotted in the neighbouring Mohmand tribal agency, but there has been no sign of the al-Qa'ida leader.
While Pakistani commanders in Bajaur say they could effectively snuff out the militants in the area within a fortnight, others are less optimistic, pointing out that the fighting - and the human tide of refugees resulting from it - has caused widespread resentment.
Many are also dubious about the high "kill" rate claimed by Pakistan, maintaining that many of those who are dying are civilians, and any al-Qa'ida person who is killed is always "a commander".
