US LETHAL 'BLUNDER' THREATENS TO UNDERMINE MUSHARRAF
By Farhan Bokhari

FT
January 15 2006 21:06

When Pakistani intelligence agents embarrassed themselves last year
in the wake of a bogus claim that they had nearly captured Ayman
al-Zawahiri, one senior intelligence official promised himself he
would never make the same mistake again.

It was a lesson that could have well served Washington's anti-terror
machinery when it made the call on Friday to launch a lethal attack
on a remote village near Pakistan's porous border with Afghanistan.

Yesterday, the government of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's
pro-US military ruler, was battling to overcome the embarrassment
caused by the attack after the elusive Mr Zawahiri was nowhere to be
found among the victims.

"He appears to have proven himself to be a great survivor. This is
a mistake we made and now the US has committed a blunder, thanks to
faulty information," said a Pakistani official whose advice to Mr
Zawahiri's hunters was simple. "Even if you're triple certain you
found him, please, please check again."

While military and intelligence officials investigate exactly what
went wrong, the killing of 18 people who appeared to be largely
innocent civilians, including women and children, looked set to unify
opposition groups from nationalists to firebrand Islamic mullahs all
eager to question General Musharraf's pro-US stance.

It would be premature to predict an end to either Pakistan's military
alliance with the US, which has been reciprocated with generous
economic support, or the general's own position as the main arbiter
of Pakistan.

But the political fallout from the attack appears to have neutralised
whatever goodwill among Pakistanis the US had earned with its relief
work following last October's earthquake and its commitment of more
than $500m in reconstruction aid.

The emerging criticism in Pakistan has also raised fresh questions
over General Musharraf's ability to find political solutions to
complex security challenges where the use of military force clearly
has limitations.

"The Americans are dogs. They are here only to take what is best
for them," said Gul Mast Khan Orakzai, a fruit vendor in the city
of Peshawar. "They can never be friends of Pakistan. We can never
trust them, they are anti-Muslim. If we want to preserve our honour,
that can only be done if we oppose the US."

In Peshawar, the last frontier town before the Afghan border,
the provincial government of the North West Frontier is run by the
Muttahida Majlis e Amal (MMA), which came to power there in 2002 on
the back of a largely anti-US stance.

That position left it as the third largest political party in the
federal parliament of Islamabad and a key coalition partner in the
ruling coalition of the south-western Baluchistan province.

At the time, the MMA's victory was seen as more of a short-lived
aberration in Pakistan's history â€" the country had never before
elected so many mullahs to federal and provincial parliaments. "If
anything, the fallout from this attack only ensures greatly popularity
for anti-Musharraf and anti-US elements in this country," warned an
Arab diplomat in Islamabad.

Analysts said mounting public distrust of the US had once again exposed
General Musharraf's political isolation. Notwithstanding his pretence
of being a liberal leader, Pakistan's main liberal political parties
remain opposed to him.

"The fallout from this attack has just turned itself in to a big
fiasco for General Musharraf and his US backers. This is a disaster
for Musharraf. It's evidence for the people of Pakistan that the US
indulges in gangsterism on their soil," warned Hasan Askari Rizvi,
a Pakistani commentator on security affairs.

Lieutenant General Talat Masood, retired from the Pakistani army
and now a defence and security affairs analyst, said the attack had
prompted new questions over "the quality" of Pakistan's alliance with
the US.

"Can the Americans come on your soil, fire upon and kill your
citizens and the government doesn't have information of this attack
in advance? Is there a missing trust element in all of this? That's
what many Pakistanis would like to know," he said.

Diplomats in Islamabad said it was possible the US government would try
to repair relations with Pakistan when Shaukat Aziz, prime minister,
arrives in Washington on Wednesday on a six-day visit.

A statement from the US promising closer co-ordination with Pakistan,
financial compensation for victims' families or a formal agreement
to investigate what went wrong in last Friday's attack could help
mend fences, diplomats said.

But Mr Orakzai said moods had become hardened. "In our culture, you
take death as the will of God. But you don't forgive enemies. Many
Pakistanis know the Americans can never be our friends."