US troops to avoid action on border with Pakistan

FT ^ | January 8 2003 | Farhan Bokhari in Lahore

[swarthyguy]

Pakistan and the US have agreed to lower the profile of American troops operating against al-Qaeda militants near the Pakistani border, senior Pakistani officials said yesterday.

The decision follows last week's rift between the two countries on US troops entering the country in hot pursuit.

The new agreement could involve a greater US reliance on Pakistani forces in the area. However, analysts warned there was a need to review comprehensively the terms of operations agreed by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf in the wake of the New York terrorist attacks.

Last week's remarks by a US military officer in Afghanistan, claiming that the US military had the right to pursue militants inside Pakistani territory, prompted an outcry from nationalists and groups of Islamic politicians who have demanded an end to Pakistan's support for the US.

Under the new agreement, officials said US troops would not conduct high-profile operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - known as the "Durand" line - where they could enter Pakistani territory. Instead, they would seek increased support from Pakistan to go after militants crossing from Afghanistan.

The "Durand" line, named after a British colonial officer responsible for demarcation of the boundary, is said to be ill-defined at a number of places and it is possible to cross from one country to the other without being aware of doing so.

In the days of the Afghan monarchy before the 1979 Communist takeover, succesSive Pakistani and Afghan governments disagreed on the border, which to this day has never been clearly defined.

"The division continues to be a problem. There are areas where it is not clear if one strip here or there lies in which country," a senior Pakistani official said.

"For the time being, the understanding is that if US troops come close to the border, they would seek greater co-operation from Pakistani troops."

The new agreement could increase Pakistan's role in the fight against terror in Afghanistan. However, analysts warned that last week's dispute demonstrated that the two countries needed to have much clearer rules of engagement.

Pakistan has deployed at least 60,000 military and paramilitary troops along the Afghan border - its largest troop deployment in years.

The country has arrested at least 400 militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda and handed them over to the US.

But a former Pakistani official said the fact that a Pakistani paramilitary border guard fired at a US soldier showed there was a possibility for errors of judgment.

"Unless there's a complete review of how the two sides work under one operational command, there could be more accidents," he said.

Pakistan has ordered an investigation into that incident, which officials said also involved a US military aircraft dropping a 500lb bomb on a village near the site of the shooting.

Jet forced down over hijack fears

A warplane from the US-led coalition yesterday forced an Afghan airliner carrying Muslim pilgrims to land in the United Arab Emirates over fears of a hijacking, Reuters reports from Dubai.

The suspicions later proved false, the Afghan government said.

A second aircraft carrying Afghan pilgrims was also forced to land at a UAE air base but a search turned up nothing and both aircraft continued to Saudi Arabia.

A UAE official said an Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 landed at a base following reports it may have been hijacked but investigations showed no sign of such an attempt. The official said another aircraft at Sharjah airport was also searched as a precaution.

Afghanistan's minister for civil aviation and tourism said a jet from US-led coalition forces had forced the aircraft to land.

[swarthyguy]

This must be disinformation....