Pakistani Leader Finds Himself Caught in Middle

The military rulers of Pakistan debated their response Friday to a U.S. call for help in pursuing terrorists, holding a seven-hour meeting that reportedly was marked by deep division over the difficult choices this nation faces.

The debate also highlighted a question important to the outcome of the Bush administration’s quest: How far can the United States push Pakistan for help without the South Asian nation imploding?

For Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who reportedly did not make a decision Friday on the U.S. requests, the choice is precarious.

Accommodating the U.S. is considered essential if Pakistan is to regain desperately needed Western economic support, which was lost in part because of its support for the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan. At the same time, he can’t afford to alienate his country’s increasingly militant Islamic fundamentalist minority.

The meeting of senior commanders came as jitters gripped this capital. An unspecified threat closed the airport for two hours Friday morning, causing several flights to be diverted to other cities. Security increased visibly, with new police checkpoints.

In Afghanistan, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar gave a rare national television address, urging people to remain strong as expectations of a U.S. attack against the country grew. Recalling the spirit of earlier Afghans who had repelled British and Russian invasions, Omar said he was not afraid to die.

He also reiterated that the Taliban would not surrender Afghanistan-based militant Osama bin Laden, a prime suspect in Tuesday’s attacks in the United States. Omar referred to Bin Laden as a good Muslim and a good moujahedeen, or holy warrior, who could not have committed the assaults in the U.S.

In Pakistan, diplomats and other political analysts said Musharraf could find himself facing stiff public dissent if, for example, the U.S. launches reprisal raids from Pakistani territory against Bin Laden or his Afghan protectors. There was already little visible enthusiasm here for Musharraf’s rule, which began two years ago with a coup.

Help Is Possible, but to a Point

Retired Lt. Gen. Kamal Matinuddin, a specialist on defense and foreign policy, said Pakistan can safely accommodate U.S. requests for help with intelligence and even with locating individuals. But more intensive support, such as allowing use of Pakistani airspace or territory, would be politically dangerous for the government.

“It would have great implications on the domestic front,” he said. “It is a very, very difficult and delicate situation.”

Others, however, believe that Musharraf could weather the protests such support likely would trigger if his government is eventually bolstered by U.S. economic assistance.

“I don’t see that it will lead to a collapse,” said an American scholar who has spent most of his life in the country. “Pakistan has proven remarkably resilient. It has survived better than most thought it would.”

A list of requests presented Thursday to Pakistan by the Bush administration included, if warranted, assistance in launching reprisal raids against either Bin Laden or the Taliban government that shelters him. The U.S. views the use of Pakistani airspace and possible deployment of American military forces in Pakistan as part of that request.

In interviews Friday, diplomats and political analysts said Musharraf would most likely accede to Washington’s request, mainly because he can’t afford to refuse.

“He’ll have to toe the line,” noted the U.S. scholar, who requested anonymity. “Their reliance on Western assistance gives them no option.”

But such a move could prove explosive in a country that shares a strong cultural and religious link with Afghanistan and shelters more than 1 million Afghan refugees.

Pakistan is one of the world’s largest Muslim countries and one of only three nations that maintain diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime. And although Pakistan was once a treaty partner with the U.S. during the early Cold War years and a valuable ally in American efforts to aid the resistance movement that fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s, it also has seen occasional outbursts of convulsive anti-Americanism.

In 1979, a mob sacked the U.S. Embassy here after being whipped into a fury by rumors that American military forces were involved in an attack on the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Three years ago, a U.S. cruise missile attack against Bin Laden camps in Afghanistan triggered days of protests in Pakistan.

Religious Groups Control Schools

Political observers say that Pakistan, after years of government neglect toward education, has in effect ceded the task of teaching the next generation of Pakistanis to militant religious groups, which have used Arab money--reportedly including some from Bin Laden--to build and staff schools. Closing such schools was part of the U.S. demands on Thursday.

“At a time of recession here, the only construction you see is either new mosques or religious schools,” noted the American scholar. “Militant religious groups are definitely strengthening.”

Friday prayers in Islamabad mosques reflected the tensions in Pakistani society and the strains that Musharraf’s government will face if it aids U.S. military action.

A 65-year-old engineer, who identified himself only as Khawaja, chuckled as he considered the Pakistani leader’s dilemma.

“He’ll be cursing the day that he toppled [the previous civilian government] and got into this mess. Whatever happens, he’ll get the worst of it,” said the man, who called himself a fundamentalist but said he loves the “large-hearted” American people.

Khawaja spoke outside the vast marble-sheathed King Faisal mosque, where the well-to-do and the well-connected worship. Here the prayer leader is a member of the government, and his remarks seemed designed to prepare the public for possible cooperation with the United States.

But at the small, concrete Haqqania mosque nearby, where worshipers bowed low on tattered reed mats, the talk was much more menacing from radical cleric Maulana Ehsanullah.

He proclaimed this week’s attacks on the U.S. to be “the beginning of the end of a superpower and the beginning of the end of another empire.”

He also offered veiled criticism of the Pakistani government.

“The United States underestimates Muslim resolve if they think an attack on Afghanistan can intimidate them,” he said. “It is America’s agents in Pakistan who are frightened because they will have to face the consequences. They should have the courage to abandon their pro-U.S. policies.”