Leader Tells Pakistanis They Must Support U.S.
Musharraf Warns Of Global Isolation

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 20, 2001; Page A01

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 19 -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared tonight in a nationally televised speech that this country could become a pariah state if it fails to cooperate with the United States in preparations for a possible strike at suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan is facing a very critical time," Musharraf said in a somber address aimed at quelling domestic opposition to his recent decision to assist the United States. Pakistan risks "very grave consequences" if it does not participate in an international effort to go after Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of last week's terror attacks in New York and Washington, Musharraf said.

The support of Pakistan, which shares a 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan, is regarded as critical to any U.S. effort to attack Afghan targets. Musharraf agreed last week to U.S. requests to open Pakistani airspace to U.S. military aircraft, share military intelligence about Afghanistan and provide access to military facilities for logistics teams and Special Forces units. He also has agreed to try to prevent all goods other than food from being shipped into landlocked Afghanistan.

Those decisions have been highly controversial in this nuclear-armed nation of 140 million people. Many Muslims in Pakistan contend that their country has an obligation to defend Afghanistan, whose ruling Taliban militia has been harboring bin Laden, because its people are fellow Muslims. Islamic groups in Pakistan have staged protests over the past few days, threatening to wage a holy war against Musharraf's military government and the United States should targets in Afghanistan be attacked.

Hours before Musharraf made his case to Pakistanis, a council of senior Islamic clerics meeting in Kabul, the Afghan capital, took up the question of whether the Taliban should surrender bin Laden in the hope of avoiding a U.S. attack. After talks with Pakistani officials on Monday, Taliban leader Mohammad Omar called on the council to decide bin Laden's fate. But after a day of deliberations, the council said no decision will be handed down before Thursday.

In his speech tonight, Musharraf insisted that his backing for anti-terrorism efforts does not violate tenets of Islam, saying that most Islamic nations endorsed a U.N. resolution calling for bin Laden to be apprehended. Faced with choosing between possible domestic upheaval and international isolation, the Pakistani president argued that opposing efforts to target bin Laden and the Taliban could "endanger our very existence."

"We can't risk the lives of millions of people," Musharraf said in his address, which was broadcast live around the world but intended to appeal to domestic political opponents. "If you are facing two problems and you have to choose one, it is better to take the lesser evil."

Political analysts said Musharraf's ability to mollify hard-line Muslims in Pakistan will be a crucial factor determining whether or not the United States can stage military operations from Pakistan. This country is regarded as the most strategically important nation from which to mount any strike, particularly one involving ground forces, on Afghanistan.

His speech elicited praise from U.S. officials. President Bush said Musharraf had taken a "bold position." But it was likely to be greeted coolly by his intended audience: domestic religious leaders.

"If foreign troops are seen in Pakistan, it will bejihad on both sides of the border," said Jamil ur-Rahman, an influential Muslim cleric in Karachi, the country's largest city, where anti-American and anti-government protests continued for a second day.

Some religious leaders have begun issuing calls to former Taliban soldiers now in Pakistan to return to Afghanistan to defend the country from any assault by the United States, Pakistani military sources said.

"The mullahs are going to beat their drums," said a former senior Pakistani military official invited to one of several meetings Musharraf held this week to enlist the support of influential business and community leaders, newspaper editors and Islamic leaders.

Although Musharraf said in his speech that only 10 percent to 15 percent of Pakistanis oppose his support for U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, the Reuters news agency reported that nearly two out of three Pakistanis questioned in a Gallup poll said they opposed Pakistan joining any U.S.-led coalition.

Musharraf attempted to appeal to Taliban supporters in Pakistan by noting that his government has tried to negotiate with the Afghan leadership. Although the Taliban was unwilling to compromise, he argued that by "going along with the international community," Pakistan could help influence decisions to "lessen the harm" inflicted on Afghanistan.

But as thousands of Afghans continued to leave cities in fear of U.S. strikes, U.N. and other relief agencies warned today that millions face a devastating humanitarian crisis whether they stay put or flee.

Yusuf Hassan, spokesman here for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said emergency teams were working to assess the refugee crisis, adding: "Despite this, the reality is that the humanitarian assistance is at a dangerously low ebb."

In Rome, the World Food Program's assistant executive director, Mohamed Zejjari, said nearly a quarter of Afghanistan's people were desperately short of food, with food aid stocks running out fast. "We believe that at least 5 million people are in urgent need of assistance," he said. "We are not in a position to send new food into the country."

Reports from Kabul, where the Islamic council was to decide whether bin Laden should be handed over, said those proceedings would continue through Thursday. As many as 1,000 clerics, some of whom traveled hundreds of miles along dirt roads, are participating in the meeting.

Omar, the Taliban leader who earlier told the Pakistani delegation that he would not support bin Laden's extradition, today criticized the United States for vilifying bin Laden. But he said Afghan officials would be willing to meet with U.S. officials to discuss ways to resolve the matter -- if they receive evidence of bin Laden's involvement.

The Taliban has made similar offers in the past, and the United States has routinely rejected them.

In the aftermath of last week's terrorist strikes in the United States, some foreign countries have begun efforts to make future attacks more difficult.

Germany's government said today that it will spend $1.5 billion to improve the readiness of its army to deal with a crisis, increase funding for the country's intelligence service and step up security at airports and other key sites.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported that U.S. and German officials have discussed the inclusion of an elite German military unit in any strike against Afghanistan. The newspaper said the KSK special operations unit could be deployed to rescue eight aid workers -- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians -- on trial in Afghanistan for allegedly spreading Christianity.

Correspondents Molly Moore in Islamabad and Peter Finn in Hamburg and special correspondent Kamran Khan in Karachi contributed to this report.