New Strife Greets Powell in Pakistan

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell arrived Monday in Pakistan with political and military offers to reinforce the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, including a compromise formula for a new government in neighboring Afghanistan that would allow some Taliban members to participate.

But Powell’s mission to South Asia immediately faced new obstacles as tensions erupted between Pakistan and India on two fronts in and near the long-disputed region of Kashmir, ending a 10-month cease-fire and threatening to pull the United States even deeper into the volatile region.

India unleashed artillery, mortars and rockets across the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region, according to Pakistani presidential spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi.

Powell’s visit coincided with the arrival of a delegation representing former Afghan monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah and the representative of one faction in the Northern Alliance forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Over the weekend, several Pakistani newspapers reported that Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, who is considered a moderate in the context of the extreme fundamentalist regime, also secretly traveled to Islamabad to meet with senior Pakistani officials.

Sources in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry could not confirm these reports but did not rule out the possibility that some representatives of Pakistan, the Taliban and the United States might have had meetings in Quetta, a provincial capital only a few hours’ drive from the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

In an effort to preserve stability along its 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan, Pakistani officials have been pushing for some representation by so-called moderate Taliban elements in whatever political structure emerges if the Taliban is toppled. As the Taliban’s main envoy to the outside world, Mutawakel is often mentioned in these discussions.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said one woman was killed and 36 people were injured when India shelled positions along the Line of Control near Sialkot and in Rawalakot. India said 11 Pakistani posts were destroyed and 12 guerrillas killed along the Line of Control.

The shelling in both areas started less than an hour before Powell landed in Islamabad. In New Delhi, a government spokesman said the troops were not acting on government orders.

But Qureshi dismissed claims that India was trying to block infiltrators from crossing the Line of Control in an area that has three lines of defense, including a minefield.

“No local commanders are authorized to fire artillery--or maybe they have lost control of their artillery,” he said. “It was madness. It’s inconceivable why they would do this.”

The violence is a blow to Bush administration diplomacy. Just before U.S. forces launched airstrikes against Afghanistan on Oct. 7, President Bush, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Powell engaged in a flurry of calls to avoid any new violence on a second front in South Asia, Rice said Monday in Washington.

Bush called on the two nations, which possess nuclear weapons, to back away from conflict.

“It is very important that India and Pakistan stand down during our activities in Afghanistan--stand down, for that matter, forever,” Bush said after meeting in the Oval Office with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

“We are mindful that activities around Kashmir could create issues in that part of the region, particularly as we’re conducting our operations in Afghanistan,” the president said.

Musharraf had dinner with Powell on Monday night at U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin’s official residence, a State Department official confirmed.

Powell is scheduled to travel to India today after extensive talks with Musharraf and his Cabinet here in the Pakistani capital. Even before the new fighting flared, the secretary said he would be discussing Kashmir with the leaders of both nations.

“The maintenance of the Line of Control [and] exercise of restraint is very important,” Powell said.

Originally, the U.S. had expected Kashmir to be low on the agenda.

Powell’s primary focus on the first leg of his trip is the shoring up of the Pakistani military government, which is coming under increasing fire for its support of the U.S. war on terrorism. In key cities, nationwide strikes called by pro-Taliban forces in Pakistan to coincide with Powell’s arrival crippled business Monday by an estimated 50% to 80%.

A new Gallup Poll also shows that while about half of respondents approve of Musharraf’s performance, 81% now support the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that rules Afghanistan.

To assuage Pakistani fears about the regional political balance, Powell will tell Musharraf in talks today that the U.S. is prepared to accept some elements of the Taliban leadership in a new Afghan coalition government.

“The current Taliban leadership seems to have destroyed this country effectively [and] would not have a serious claim to be part of the government,” Powell told reporters traveling with him. “But there are many people within the Taliban, leaders who will still be there. They’re not all leaving the country, so I hope the international community will be able to put together something that will appeal to all of the Afghan people.”

Pakistan, the only nation with formal ties to the Taliban regime, fears that a postwar Afghan government may not be as friendly to Islamabad. With India on its eastern border and Iran to the southwest, Pakistan has long considered the Taliban its most reliable regional ally.

The momentum is clearly building to come up with a plan for post-Taliban rule. A senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official here predicted that the Powell talks today will be followed by the announcement of a date for a meeting in Pakistan of an Afghan “representative body” to finalize “the future political setup.” This would be a prelude to a loya jirga, or grand assembly, that would choose a new government, the official said.

Powell also announced that he had appointed Richard Haass, director of policy planning at the State Department, as his special coordinator to explore with United Nations and key countries the issue of Afghanistan’s future. “We’re going to work with the U.N. and others to start to develop some ideas as to what we have to do and want to do if there is a change,” the secretary said.

The Bush administration appears to be increasingly deferring to the world body on postwar issues. Powell said the U.N. will play “a key role.”

The U.S. also is hoping to announce new exchanges with the Pakistani military, a move designed to signal long-standing American interest as well as build a new generation of Pakistani officers with significant exposure to the West.

Formalizing an agreement to launch an international military education and training program now depends on congressional action to waive one of the restrictions imposed on Pakistan by U.S. sanctions. The Bush administration has taken several steps to remove sanctions since Musharraf agreed to back the U.S. war on terrorism.

Pakistan also has sought assurances that the U.S. will not abandon it again, as officials here believe happened after the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ended in 1989.

Powell is the highest-ranking American official to visit the region since the Sept. 11 attacks led the U.S. to mobilize a world coalition to fight terrorism, with Pakistan quickly becoming the most important front line for the first phase.

Powell’s visit was greeted with a general strike called by religious parties as well as a new round of demonstrations. In Quetta, a center of pro-Taliban sentiment, parties opposed to Musharraf’s pro-U.S. stance staged their second mass rally in four days, bringing out more than 10,000 people and raising the level of rhetoric and threats against the government.

Attaur Rehman, younger brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Islam party, was one of three main speakers and called on Pakistan’s army and other armed forces to “organize a coup” against Musharraf--branding the general a renegade to the Pakistani nation.

On the surface, the strike was a success in Quetta. Storekeepers had no choice but to shutter their premises or risk being vandalized. But many managed to carry out a little business on the side, in front of their closed shops.

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Times staff writers Rone Tempest in Islamabad, John Daniszewski in Quetta and James Gerstenzang in Washington contributed to this report.