WASHINGTON, March 4: US Vice-President Dick Cheney is reported to have delivered a tough message to Pakistan, saying Islamabad should act to destroy Al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal zone or let the Americans do the job, a senior member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee said on Sunday.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the number two Democrat on the committee, criticised measures so far taken by Pakistan, terming them half-hearted and urged Islamabad to do more.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Ms Feinstein, a California Democrat, said Mr Cheney had told President Gen Pervez Musharraf when he met him in Islamabad last week that that “the Pakistanis either have to let us go in or go in themselves when they have intelligence.”
Asked to comment on Pakistan’s efforts to fight terrorism, she said: “I think the kind of half measures that the Pakistanis have taken in that particular area don’t stand us in good stead.”
Ms Feinstein, who as a senior member of the intelligence committee is privy to classified information, also indicated that the United States might have launched a campaign to persuade Pakistan to take some drastic measures for uprooting the reported terrorist hideouts in tribal areas.
“I think there’s an ongoing campaign. More than that, I can’t say,” said the senator when the programme’s host asked her, “Is something going on?”
Senator Feinstein said ‘pinpoint attacks’ were needed against Al Qaeda before the Taliban launched their spring offensive.
“There’s no question that there’s going to be a spring offensive in Afghanistan, that they’re trying to reach out, that training is going on, recruitment is going on,” she said.
Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, agreed that the tribal region was a growing threat but cautioned that a balancing act was required to ensure that the Musharraf government stays in power, reminding the TV host that President Musharraf faces elections in September. “We need stability in the regime. We need this regime to survive,” he said.
But he also supported the demand for Pakistan to do more, which now echoes from every quarter of the US administration and legislature as well as the media. “You know the activities that we’ve got in Pakistan and along the border — I mean, we’ve got a full court press going on there. We may want Pakistan to do more things,” he said.
He said there were reasons that the tribal region was the ungoverned areas. “No one has really been able to go into these areas and take control, but the Pakistanis have been doing a number of things to help us go after Al Qaeda.”
