BanglaBhoot
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Pakistan's leaders have publicly denounced U.S. missile strikes as an attack on the country's sovereignty, but privately Pakistani military and intelligence officers are aiding these attacks and have given significant support to recent U.S. missions, say officials from both countries.
American unmanned Predator aircraft have killed scores of Islamic militants in Pakistan in more than 30 missile strikes since August, provoking outrage in the South Asian nation. Two in the past four days have killed more than 50 suspected militants. Yet, with the Taliban pushing deeper into the country, Pakistan's civilian and military leaders, while publicly condemning the attacks, have come to see the strikes as effective and are passing on intelligence that has helped recent missions, say officials from both countries.
As a result, "the Predator strikes are more and more precise," said a Pakistani official.
Eleven of al Qaeda's top 20 commanders have been killed or captured since August because of the Predator missions conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the Pakistani official, and current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
Dennis C. Blair, the new U.S. director of national intelligence, said last week that "a succession of blows" to al Qaeda in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas have thrown the group off balance, forcing it to promote inexperienced operators to leadership posts.
According to Pakistani and U.S. officials, among those killed have been al Qaeda military's chief, Khalid Habib; Abu Layth al-Libi, whom U.S. officials described as "a rising star" in the group; Abu Khabab al-Masri, al Qaeda's leading chemical-weapons expert; and Usama al-Kini, who was believed to be involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and later planned attacks in Pakistan.
Drones help in surveillance and target identification as well as strikes. On Jan. 22, Pakistani paramilitary forces arrested Zabu ul Taifi, a Saudi national and alleged al Qaeda operative, in an operation described by a Pakistani intelligence officer as "a direct result of better cooperation" with the U.S.
An officer from Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier spy agency, said Mr. Taifi was located at a safe house in the Khyber Agency, one of the tribal areas that run along the border with Afghanistan, through a combination of human intelligence from Pakistani agents, informants on the ground and aerial surveillance by U.S. drones.
Once authorities were confident Mr. Taifi was in the walled, mud compound, Pakistani paramilitary forces backed by helicopters grabbed him, the officer said. Throughout, Predator drones hovered overhead and would have attacked if Mr. Taifi or other suspects had tried to escape, the officer said. In all, Mr. Taifi and six other men -- Afghans and Pakistanis -- were nabbed in the raid.
Maj. Gen Akhtar Abbas, a spokesman for the military, said Pakistan and the U.S. "have a long history of military cooperation and intelligence sharing." But he said it doesn't include the missiles strikes. "We have made our opposition clear," he said. "The strikes are counterproductive."
But other Pakistani officials say there has been a shift in Pakistan's private response to U.S. insistence the strikes go ahead. Initially, Pakistani complaints were genuine, these officials say, and reflected widespread discontent with the U.S.-led war on terror.
But after Pakistan's complaints were repeatedly rebuffed by the U.S. and with the Taliban making gains against the Pakistani military and the police, these officials say President Asif Ali Zardari and top military leaders decided in recent months to aid the American effort in the hopes it will help them regain control over the tribal areas. The Taliban and al Qaeda have flourished in those areas bordering Afghanistan since 2001. The cooperation also could prove as a counterbalance to U.S. displeasure over a peace deal announced Monday with a Taliban faction in Swat Valley.
The protests are "really for the sake of public opinion," said one Pakistani official. "These operations are helping both sides. We are partners on this."
A former U.S. intelligence official said cooperation has always been strong between the two countries' intelligence services. "There's always been a double game," the former official said. "There's the game they'll play out in public [but] there has always been good cooperation."
Further evidence of the close working relationship between the two countries came last week, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Predators are flown out of a base in Pakistan, not U.S. bases in Afghanistan, as many counterterrorism analysts had believed.
Her spokesman, Phil LaVelle, later said she was referring to a "front-page Washington Post story in March." But she made no reference to news reports in her remarks. Pakistan has since denied Ms. Feinstein's account, but former U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that it was accurate, lamenting the fact she stated it publicly. "It was a big mistake on her part," said one.
Most of the Predator strikes have so far targeted al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who attack U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, using Pakistan's tribal areas only as a rear base. But in exchange for helping the U.S., Washington is "sharing more intelligence with" Islamabad on Taliban factions focused on toppling Pakistan's government, said the Pakistani official.
While officials say there is overlap between the Pakistani Taliban, who fight under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, and the Afghan Taliban, the two are considered distinct networks with different aims.
How far the Pakistanis are willing to go in helping the Americans take on the Afghan Taliban is an open question. For years, U.S. officials have suspected the Pakistanis of shielding Afghan Taliban leaders, or at least not working very hard to catch or kill them.
Many Afghan Taliban leaders worked closely with ISI to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and Pakistan was publicly supportive of the Taliban until after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A senior ISI officer acknowledged his agency maintains contacts with Afghan Taliban leaders at or the near the top of the U.S. target list, such as Mullah Nazeer and Jalaluddin Haqqani. The officer said Mr. Haqqani could be "a force for stability" in Afghanistan, and insisted that he and other Taliban leaders spend most of their time in that country, not Pakistan, as U.S. officials assert.
Pakistan Lends Support for U.S. Military Strikes - WSJ.com
American unmanned Predator aircraft have killed scores of Islamic militants in Pakistan in more than 30 missile strikes since August, provoking outrage in the South Asian nation. Two in the past four days have killed more than 50 suspected militants. Yet, with the Taliban pushing deeper into the country, Pakistan's civilian and military leaders, while publicly condemning the attacks, have come to see the strikes as effective and are passing on intelligence that has helped recent missions, say officials from both countries.
As a result, "the Predator strikes are more and more precise," said a Pakistani official.
Eleven of al Qaeda's top 20 commanders have been killed or captured since August because of the Predator missions conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the Pakistani official, and current and former U.S. intelligence officials.
Dennis C. Blair, the new U.S. director of national intelligence, said last week that "a succession of blows" to al Qaeda in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas have thrown the group off balance, forcing it to promote inexperienced operators to leadership posts.
According to Pakistani and U.S. officials, among those killed have been al Qaeda military's chief, Khalid Habib; Abu Layth al-Libi, whom U.S. officials described as "a rising star" in the group; Abu Khabab al-Masri, al Qaeda's leading chemical-weapons expert; and Usama al-Kini, who was believed to be involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and later planned attacks in Pakistan.
Drones help in surveillance and target identification as well as strikes. On Jan. 22, Pakistani paramilitary forces arrested Zabu ul Taifi, a Saudi national and alleged al Qaeda operative, in an operation described by a Pakistani intelligence officer as "a direct result of better cooperation" with the U.S.
An officer from Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier spy agency, said Mr. Taifi was located at a safe house in the Khyber Agency, one of the tribal areas that run along the border with Afghanistan, through a combination of human intelligence from Pakistani agents, informants on the ground and aerial surveillance by U.S. drones.
Once authorities were confident Mr. Taifi was in the walled, mud compound, Pakistani paramilitary forces backed by helicopters grabbed him, the officer said. Throughout, Predator drones hovered overhead and would have attacked if Mr. Taifi or other suspects had tried to escape, the officer said. In all, Mr. Taifi and six other men -- Afghans and Pakistanis -- were nabbed in the raid.
Maj. Gen Akhtar Abbas, a spokesman for the military, said Pakistan and the U.S. "have a long history of military cooperation and intelligence sharing." But he said it doesn't include the missiles strikes. "We have made our opposition clear," he said. "The strikes are counterproductive."
But other Pakistani officials say there has been a shift in Pakistan's private response to U.S. insistence the strikes go ahead. Initially, Pakistani complaints were genuine, these officials say, and reflected widespread discontent with the U.S.-led war on terror.
But after Pakistan's complaints were repeatedly rebuffed by the U.S. and with the Taliban making gains against the Pakistani military and the police, these officials say President Asif Ali Zardari and top military leaders decided in recent months to aid the American effort in the hopes it will help them regain control over the tribal areas. The Taliban and al Qaeda have flourished in those areas bordering Afghanistan since 2001. The cooperation also could prove as a counterbalance to U.S. displeasure over a peace deal announced Monday with a Taliban faction in Swat Valley.
The protests are "really for the sake of public opinion," said one Pakistani official. "These operations are helping both sides. We are partners on this."
A former U.S. intelligence official said cooperation has always been strong between the two countries' intelligence services. "There's always been a double game," the former official said. "There's the game they'll play out in public [but] there has always been good cooperation."
Further evidence of the close working relationship between the two countries came last week, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Predators are flown out of a base in Pakistan, not U.S. bases in Afghanistan, as many counterterrorism analysts had believed.
Her spokesman, Phil LaVelle, later said she was referring to a "front-page Washington Post story in March." But she made no reference to news reports in her remarks. Pakistan has since denied Ms. Feinstein's account, but former U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that it was accurate, lamenting the fact she stated it publicly. "It was a big mistake on her part," said one.
Most of the Predator strikes have so far targeted al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who attack U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, using Pakistan's tribal areas only as a rear base. But in exchange for helping the U.S., Washington is "sharing more intelligence with" Islamabad on Taliban factions focused on toppling Pakistan's government, said the Pakistani official.
While officials say there is overlap between the Pakistani Taliban, who fight under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, and the Afghan Taliban, the two are considered distinct networks with different aims.
How far the Pakistanis are willing to go in helping the Americans take on the Afghan Taliban is an open question. For years, U.S. officials have suspected the Pakistanis of shielding Afghan Taliban leaders, or at least not working very hard to catch or kill them.
Many Afghan Taliban leaders worked closely with ISI to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and Pakistan was publicly supportive of the Taliban until after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A senior ISI officer acknowledged his agency maintains contacts with Afghan Taliban leaders at or the near the top of the U.S. target list, such as Mullah Nazeer and Jalaluddin Haqqani. The officer said Mr. Haqqani could be "a force for stability" in Afghanistan, and insisted that he and other Taliban leaders spend most of their time in that country, not Pakistan, as U.S. officials assert.
Pakistan Lends Support for U.S. Military Strikes - WSJ.com
