US Reads Musharraf the Riot Act: Pakistan Retaliates

Pakistan’s military ruler Pervez Musharraf has fallen from Washington’s good grace, reports The Times of India correspondent from Washington.

“President Bush, who called Musharraf his ‘tight buddy’ couple of years ago, has decided to send him an ‘unusually tough message’ over his failure to deliver results in the war on terrorism, the New York Times reported on Monday, quoting unnamed senior administration officials.

“Cheney, considered the hardliner in the administration most capable of delivering tough messages, is evidently the hatchet man in this case.

“US officials suggested that Bush will use a new law passed recently by the Democratic Congress, making aid to Pakistan contingent on its action against terrorism, to turn the screws on Musharraf.”

While the NYT report states: “Just hours after Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a stiff private message to President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, the Pakistani government lashed out Monday with a series of statements insisting that ‘Pakistan does not accept dictation from any side or any source’.

“The unusual outburst, later toned down, revealed the depth of tensions between General Musharraf and Washington over what administration officials say have been inadequate efforts by Pakistan in combating Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

“ ‘There is a growing consensus that our Pakistan policy is not working,’ said Derek Chollet, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington who estimates that over the past five years the United States has sent $10 billion in aid to Pakistan — and perhaps as much in covert funds.

“Mr. Musharraf alluded to those payments in his recently published memoir, in which he wrote, ‘Those who habitually accuse us of ‘not doing enough’ in the war on terror should simply ask the C.I.A. how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan.’ When asked about that assertion, C.I.A. officials have declined to answer.”

Meanwhile a Reuters report states that a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people on Tuesday in an attack on the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan where Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting after an unannounced visit (after making a surprise visit to Pakistan).

“U.S. officials said Cheney was not hurt in the blast — which took place outside a gate at the sprawling Bagram Airbase, about 60 km (40 miles) from Kabul — but a U.S. soldier died.”