Author:
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: September 29, 2001
The last Pakistani Army soldier
fighting side by side with the Taliban is learnt to have returned to Quetta
on Thursday.
This is revealed by Maj Gen Qamer
Zaman, the ISI's chief of operations, who assisted the Taliban militia
with tactical inputs in its battles with the Northern Alliance. After this,
India believes, Pakistan's tacit agreement to a US-led offensive in Afghanistan,
is a matter of time.
According to sources, General Pervez
Musharraf, who is also Joint Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Armed Forces,
ordered a hasty withdrawal of his men from different parts of Afghanistan
where they were based over the past few years. However, in their haste,
the Pakistanis left behind much military hardware -- field guns, trucks,
ambulances and tents.
Besides, the presence of the international
media would have given away the Pakistani involvement if these were hauled
back. Most of the soldiers slipped back through the border outposts in
mufti. They were indistinguishable to most from the hordes of other refugees.
Two things, however, gave the game
away. The Pakistanis were constantly sealing the border only to open the
gates again. This was done because if Pak soldiers were left behind in
Afghanistan, they would be exposed to popular angst once the anticipated
American air strikes began. Secondly, UN personnel and foreign journalists
stationed near the border checkposts could easily tell the well-fed soldiers
from the starving refugees.
Musharraf s anxiety not to get involved
in the US-led offensive must be seen in this context, sources said. "He
wanted to ensure that all Pakistanis, till the last man, got back to home
base. He wanted to buy time," sources said. HTC, New Delhi
