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Bush to send a warning on aid to Pakistan

US President George W. Bush has decided to send an unusually tough message to one of his most important allies, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces became far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with al-Qaeda, senior administration officials say.

The decision came after the White House concluded that Musharraf has so far failed to live up to commitments he made to Bush during a visit to the US last September. Musharraf insisted then, both in private and public, that a peace deal he struck with tribal leaders in one of the country's most lawless border areas would not diminish the hunt for the leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban or their training camps.

Now, US intelligence officials have concluded that the terrorist infrastructure is being rebuilt, and that while Pakistan has attacked some camps, its overall effort has flagged.

"He's made a number of assurances over the past few months, but the bottom line is that what they are doing now is not working," one senior administration official who deals often with South Asian issues said late last week. "The message we're sending to him now is that the only thing that matters is results."

Democrats, who took control of Congress last month, have urged the White House to put greater pressure on Pakistan because of statements from US commanders that units based in Pakistan that are linked to the Taliban, Afghanistan's ousted rulers, are increasing their attacks into Afghanistan.

For the time being, officials say, the White House has ruled out unilateral strikes against the training camps that US spy satellites are monitoring in North Waziristan, in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border. The fear is that such strikes would result in what one administration official referred to as a "shock to the stability" of Musharraf's government.

Musharraf, a savvy survivor in the brutal world of Pakistani politics, knows that the administration is hesitant to push him too far. If his government collapses, it is not clear who would succeed him or who would gain control over Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

But the spread of al-Qaeda in the tribal areas threatens to undermine a central element of Bush's argument that he is succeeding in the administration's effort to curb terrorism. The bomb plot that was disrupted in Britain last summer, involving plans to hijack airplanes, has been linked by British and US intelligence agencies to camps in the Pakistan-Afghan border areas.

Meanwhile, US Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Pakistan yesterday for talks with Musharraf on efforts to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, an official said.

Cheney arrived yesterday morning and went straight to Musharraf's office in Rawalpindi, just south of the capital Islamabad, for talks on bilateral and international issues, a senior official in the president's office said. State-run Pakistan Television also reported that the meeting was underway but reported the leaders were meeting at Musharraf's official residence in the capital, Islamabad.
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