Solid Alliance Pervez Musharraf - George W Bush (Ben Heine)

Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, acknowledged publicly August 12 that Taliban forces are using Pakistan’s border region as a base from which to launch attacks against U.S. and NATO troops occupying Afghanistan.

“There is support from these areas to Taliban activity inside Afghanistan,” said Musharraf in a joint appearance with Afghan president Hamid Karzai at the closing session of a four-day gathering in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, where 600 tribal leaders from both sides of the border participated. “There is no doubt Afghan militants are supported from Pakistani soil,” he said.

Until July, Pakistani officials were still denying U.S. claims that al-Qaeda and Taliban forces were operating from Pakistan. The government in Islamabad, under pressure from Washington, abandoned its support for the Taliban in 2001 to become a U.S. ally. But it has held back from blocking Taliban activity in its territory. In Pakistan “sections of the military regard the predominantly Pashtun fighters [of the Taliban] as a useful means of retaining influence,” the Financial Times noted August 8.

The U.S.-backed conference was billed by the big-business media as a step toward improving relations between two of Washington’s key allies in the so-called war on terror. They also sought to use it to undermine support for Taliban and al-Qaeda among local tribal groups.

Washington and its imperialist allies are pressing the Pakistani government to show results on its pledge to combat “terrorism.” Since July, Islamabad has deployed tens of thousands of troops to Waziristan, on the northwestern border with Afghanistan, and has launched attacks that have killed dozens of Taliban fighters.

While stressing its preference of collaborating with the Musharraf government, the White House has left open the prerogative of taking further military action unilaterally. U.S. president George Bush said at an August 9 news conference that he expected Musharraf’s “full cooperation in sharing intelligence” on suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban activities and “swift action taken if there is actionable intelligence on high-value targets.”

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama went further, saying on August 8, “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and president Musharraf won’t act, we will.” “We can’t send millions and millions of dollars to Pakistan for military aid and be a constant ally to them and yet not see more aggressive action in dealing with al-Qaeda,” Obama said a week later.

Washington’s demands that Musharraf crack down on al-Qaeda and the Taliban have sharpened the political crisis facing the military leader.

Faced with strong opposition from inside and outside of government, including from Washington, Islamabad backed away August 9 from imposing a state of emergency that “would have given Musharraf sweeping powers to restrict freedom of movement and assembly, and could have extended for another year the term of the current parliament, which is viewed as pro-Musharraf,” the Washington Post reported.

“We are against the imposition of emergency. If Musharraf does so, we will oppose it, and let me make it clear that there is no justification for it,” said Syed Kabir Ali Wasti of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, according to the Post. He said Musharraf was only interested in “ protecting his own interests.”

In face of reports that Musharraf was considering the imposition of a state of emergency U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice made a quick phone call to the Pakistani leader August 9.

“ President Musharraf and the Pakistani government have… demonstrated that they want to cooperate within its laws and Pakistan’s constitution,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack at a news briefing later that day.