Cheney Pressures Pakistan To Stop Al Qaeda

VP Visits Islamabad, Warns Musharraf Of "Regrouping" Al Qaeda, Taliban Along Border

(CBS/AP)  Vice President Dick Cheney warned Monday that al Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan's remote border area and sought President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's help in a reinvigorated push against Taliban and al Qaeda militants, Musharraf's office said.

The vice president made a surprise visit to Pakistan on Monday for talks with Musharraf on efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

Cheney praised Pakistan's contribution in the war against terrorism but also "expressed U.S. apprehensions of regrouping of al Qaeda in the tribal areas and called for concerted efforts in countering the threat," Musharraf's office said.

The trip comes amid growing concern in Congress and the administration that terrorist forces are regrouping in the border area and preparing for a spring offensive in Afghanistan.

Cheney "expressed serious U.S. concerns on the intelligence being picked up of an impending Taliban and al Qaeda 'spring offensive' against allied forces in Afghanistan," Musharraf's office said.

"The Vice President's message to Pakistan was an effort to convey the frustrations of NATO commanders who are in charge of 34,000 troops from three dozen nations and are frustrated by the peace agreement negotiated by President Musharraf in North Waziristan," said CBS Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk, "and to sound the warning that a Democrat-led Congress is considering cutting aid."

The White House wants Pakistan to crack down on al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the lawless border area with Afghanistan that President Bush recently said was "wilder than the Wild West."

Cheney himself made no public comment in Pakistan and soon left the country for Afghanistan, where he landed at the U.S. military base at Bagram for consultations with American commanders before a meeting with President Hamid Karzai.

Pakistani officials speaking after Cheney's meeting with Musharraf acknowledged the U.S. had conveyed a strong message, but said Washington continues to support the government. "It was a direct message. But we are nowhere near a breaking point in this relationship. Even friends can sometimes be blunt to each other," a Pakistani official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday the administration was concerned that al Qaeda was attempting to stage a comeback.

"I don't doubt that al Qaeda has tried to regenerate some of its leadership," Rice said on ABC's "This Week." "I don't doubt that. I don't think that anybody would claim that this is the same organization or the same kind of organization that operated out of Afghanistan.

"But we have to be vigilant, and that's why we are working with the Pakistanis, we are working with the Afghans, we're working worldwide in our intelligence network to continue to degrade this institution, this organization worldwide and on the Afghan border," the secretary said.

The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Monday that Mr. Bush has decided to send a tough message to Musharraf, warning him that the Democrat-controlled Congress may cut off funding to Pakistan unless it gets more aggressive in hunting down al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in its country.

The Times report did not mention Cheney's visit to Pakistan and it was not known if the vice president conveyed such a message to Musharraf.

But unnamed senior administration officials told the newspaper that Mr. Bush decided to take a tougher line with Pakistan after concluding that Musharraf is failing to follow through on commitments to maintain the hunt for militants that he made during a September visit to Washington.

M.J. Gohel, a terrorism expert and chief executive of the Asia-Pacific Foundation tells CBS News that the U.S. tried to lure Musharraf into helping combat terrorism with financial aide, but, "unfortunately, Gen. Musharraf has not taken that action."

Pakistan's border regions have long been suspected to be the hiding places for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. Pakistan, an Islamic country, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of U.S. foreign aid.

However, Musharraf complains that Pakistan is being scapegoated for failures inside Afghanistan and contends that there is no evidence that bin Laden or the Taliban's Mullah Omar are on Pakistani soil.

Musharraf told Cheney that Pakistan "has done the maximum in the fight against terrorism" and that "joint efforts were needed for achieving the desired objectives," his office said.

Musharraf also defended a September peace deal in the North Waziristan tribal region. Critics say the deal effectively ceded the area to militants and some U.S. military officials say it was followed by a rise in attacks in Afghanistan.

The agreement, under which tribal leaders are supposed to curb militant activities, "is the way forward," Musharraf said, arguing that tribesmen are best turned against the militants by way of economic aid and political measures.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, earlier this month, traveled to Pakistan for talks with Musharraf, about the terrorist traffic across its border into Afghanistan. Recent sharp criticism of Pakistan's porous border has triggered angry denials from Musharraf.

Asked whether he had talked with Musharraf about the hunt for al Qaeda fugitive Osama bin Laden, Gates said he would not "get into specifics" about their talks.

But, said Gates, "If I were Osama bin Laden, I'd keep looking over my shoulder."

[j0hnwi11iams]

No mention that Pakistan has already made peace with Al Qaida? Musharraf is sitting on dynamite. If he goes down, whoever replaces him gets NUKES. Don't expect Pakistan to budge. Cheney can go you know what himself.

[lars008-2009]

peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt

One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill

Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

USA's PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
--John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." --John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "

[lars008-2009]

peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt

[lars008-2009]

peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. Theodore Roosevelt

[dargay]

There is nothing Pakistan can say or do to satisfy Americans, the United States is a scared and desperate country now.
Better for Pakistan to fight terrorism according to their judgements.

[firststate]

In typical fashion for the current administration, this pressure is more of the "Nudge and Wink" variety. The talk is tough and not much else happens. Musharraf gives the dickster an extremely pressured photo-op and nods while dickey nudges him with an elbow and winks with the eye away from the cameras. Musharraf knows that the US needs him at least as much as he needs us.

This administration's successes against terrorism have actually increased the number of anti-American terrorists in the world by about 5 times as many, so their version of success will get people killed. In chosing to essentially ignore the terrorists for about 4 years with the invasion of Iraq, which was not involved in 9/11, not cooperating with OBL or alQaeda and in so doing, opened Iraq's borders to terrorists doesn't make me feel safer. Most of their anti-terrorist activity here has actually consisted of various kinds of intrusions into people's live and privacy. The biggest victims in the fight against terrorists at home since 9/11 have been our laws and Constitutional protections. Homeland security spends massive sums to compose voluminous reports on the best options for rearranging the deck chairs as a ship sinks. Their one accomplishment offering a glimmer of hope is improved airline security.

[sidkeith7]

Strange that Mr Cheney should be trying to push the "WAR ON TERRA" which he abandoned in AFGHANISTAN for the illegal and immoral invasion of IRAQ off on PAKISTAN now that he and "THE FRAT BRAT WAR PRESIDENT" have created the GREATEST FUBAR IN AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY to the point that NONE OF THE "BUSH WARS" CAN BE WON AND "UNCLE SUGAR" is now known world wide as "Auntie Vinegar"!
Great leadership from a five defirment NON-COMBATANT and his AWOL GROUNDED WEEKEND WARRIOR SIDE KICK!

[rochest]

so President Bush sent Vice-President Cheney to deliver tough messages to Pakistan and messages of thanks to Australia. First who is really the president and who's messages were they really? And second don't we have the Secretary of State of who should be doing these things? Now things are falling apart in Afghanistan the war we never finished before we attacked iraq and now Afghanistan may become another failed state we leave in our wake. not just a failed state but when one producing the world's supply of opium. the wrong person won in 2000 the right one last won last night!

[stevex47]

After their meeting, Musharraf was quickly led to a bathroom where her washed the slime off his hands.

[j-whitman]

Go ahead Cheney cut thier funding for the War on Terror --- Then stop complaining about democrats cutting the funding for your failed Iraq War.

[j-whitman]

Go ahead Cheney cut thier funding for the War on Terror --- Then stop complaining about democrats cutting the funding for your failed Iraq War.

[j-whitman]

Go ahead Cheney cut thier funding for the War on Terror --- Then stop complaining about democrats cutting the funding for your failed Iraq War.

[rochest]

so President Bush sent Vice-President Cheney to deliver tough messages to Pakistan and messages of thanks to Australia. First who is really the president and who's messages were they really? And second don't we have the Secretary of State of who should be doing these things? Now things are falling apart in Afghanistan the war we never finished before we attacked iraq and now Afghanistan may become another failed state we leave in our wake. not just a failed state but when one producing the world's supply of opium. the wrong person won in 2000 the right one last won last night!

[clemenhagen1]

Gee ***, al Qaeda's regrouping in Pakistan and the Taliban threatens to rise from the dead. Who'da thunk it? Maybe if you had put more boots on the ground at Tora Bora instead of hatching deals with Afghan warlords you would have captured bin Laden, put away al Qaeda for good, and we'd have been done with the whole deal. Of course, that wouldn't have played very well with your long-term goals...perpetual war, the privatization of war, and the further entrenched enrichment of the industrial-military complex (not to mention corporate oil elites). Since you wish to pressure one of our "allies" about supporting al Qaeda, why don't you swing by Saudi Arabia on the way home and tell them to quit arming the Sunni insurgency. After all, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it IS the Sunni insurgency most responsible for U.S. deaths in Iraq. If that is so (which it is), and the Saudi's are arming the Sunni insurgents (which they are), wouldn't that put the House of Saud on that "evil-doer" list that Captain Codpiece warns about? Wouldn't that make our allies, the Saudis, not with us but agin us? Just a thought.

Signed: Confused in the Homeland!

[clemenhagen1]

Gee ***, al Qaeda's regrouping in Pakistan and the Taliban threatens to rise from the dead. Who'da thunk it? Maybe if you had put more boots on the ground at Tora Bora instead of hatching deals with Afghan warlords you would have captured bin Laden, put away al Qaeda for good, and we'd have been done with the whole deal. Of course, that wouldn't have played very well with your long-term goals...perpetual war, the privatization of war, and the further entrenched enrichment of the industrial-military complex (not to mention corporate oil elites). Since you wish to pressure one of our "allies" about supporting al Qaeda, why don't you swing by Saudi Arabia on the way home and tell them to quit arming the Sunni insurgency. After all, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it IS the Sunni insurgency most responsible for U.S. deaths in Iraq. If that is so (which it is), and the Saudi's are arming the Sunni insurgents (which they are), wouldn't that put the House of Saud on that "evil-doer" list that Captain Codpiece warns about? Wouldn't that make our allies, the Saudis, not with us but agin us? Just a thought.

Signed: Confused in the Homeland!

[mnelsonix]

...not "get into specifics" about their talks.

But, said Gates, "If I were Osama bin Laden, I'd keep looking over my shoulder."

Gates is a fool. Musharraf and Osama are buds. Nothing got accomplished on this waste of time. I can hear Aerosmith..Cheney's gotta gun...

[mnelsonix]

...not "get into specifics" about their talks.

But, said Gates, "If I were Osama bin Laden, I'd keep looking over my shoulder."

Gates is a fool. Musharraf and Osama are buds. Nothing got accomplished on this waste of time. I can hear Aerosmith..Cheney's gotta gun...

[randalds]

So how much would we have to pay Musharraf to keep Cheney there as his vice-president? I'll kick in some bucks for that!

[randalds]

So how much would we have to pay Musharraf to keep Cheney there as his vice-president? I'll kick in some bucks for that!

[us_infidel]

"Cheney Pressures Pakistan To Stop Al Qaeda" - and to have more kite flying festivals! :)