Will Pakistan Jump to US Demands ?By Tariq Ali

[Peter K.]

>If Holywood rules necessitate a short, sharp war against the new enemy, the
>American Caesar would be best-advised not to insist on Pakistani legions.
>The consequences could be dire: a brutal and vicious civil war creating
more
>bitterness and encouraging more acts of individual terrorism. Islamabad
will
>do everything to prevent a military expedition to Afghanistan. For one
thing
>there are Pakistani soldiers, pilots and officers present in Kabul, Bagram
>and other bases. What will be their orders this time and will they obey
>them? Much more likely is that Ossama Bin Laden will be sacrificed in the
>interests of the greater cause and his body dead or alive will be handed
>over to his former employers in Washington. But will that be enough?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Attack-Pakistan.html

September 16, 2001
Pakistan to Demand bin Laden
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:48 a.m. ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A delegation of senior Pakistani officials will
go to Afghanistan on Monday to demand that the ruling Taliban militia hand
over Osama bin Laden to the United States, a top government official said
Sunday.

The delegation, which is traveling to the Taliban's headquarters in southern
Kandahar, will issue an ultimatum to the religious militia: either deliver
Bin Laden, the leading suspect in the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington, or risk a massive retaliatory assault, said the official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Taliban will be told that the international community has been mobilized
to attack Afghanistan if the Taliban, who rule roughly 95 percent of the
country, refuse to turn over bin Laden, the official said.

There was no indication that the Taliban would be given a deadline to
decide.

Bin Laden has been living in Afghanistan since 1996. The Taliban have
steadfastly refused to hand him over despite two rounds of U.N. sanctions
that have cut off funds to the national airline and isolated Taliban
leaders.

The Taliban say bin Laden is a guest. The Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah
Mohammed Omar, has said in the past that delivering bin Laden to non-Muslims
would be akin to betraying a tenet of Islam.

Also Sunday, the Taliban called an ``urgent'' meeting of clerics from
throughout Afghanistan. At that meeting the clerics voiced their support for
the Taliban, condemned the United States and demanded proof of bin Laden's
involvement in the airborne attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers
and the Pentagon.

In Pakistan, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was meeting with politicians
and Islamic clerics to get their support for Islamabad's promise to give
``full support'' to the United States to retaliate for the attacks, which
could include the deployment of international troops in Pakistan. It could
also mean the use of Pakistani airspace.

Already some of Pakistan's religious leaders have been approached by the
army-led rulers to use their influence with the Taliban to get them to hand
over bin Laden.

They have refused.

``We told the government that we're very sorry but we can't do that and we
don't have that kind of influence over the Taliban,'' said Amir-ul Azeem, a
spokesman for Pakistan's best-organized religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, or
Party of Islam.


>Will Pakistan Jump to US Demands?
>"Get Us Bin Laden" Order from Bush Could Spark Pakistani Army Mutiny
>
>By Tariq Ali