EDITORIAL: Pressuring Pakistan: Musharraf Must Do More to Block Build-Up of Taliban, Terror Groups

Feb 28, 06:20 AM

Current Headlines: By Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Feb. 28--The suicide bombing attack at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan yesterday during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit underscores in the most dramatic fashion possible the urgency of confronting the resurgent threat posed by the Taliban and its terrorist ally, al-Qaida.

Washington's attention to the danger of that rejuvenated terror alliance is long overdue. It's not too late to address it, but the United States and its NATO allies must waste no time in reinforcing their troops in Afghanistan to fend off an expected Taliban spring offensive, and to stiffen the resolve of the governments in the region to stand up to terror groups.

The Taliban attack at the Bagram air base came the day after Cheney's surprise visit to Pakistan, where he warned President Pervez Musharraf that Washington could cut billions of dollars in aid to his country unless Musharraf fulfilled his promise to crack down on the Taliban and al-Qaida, both of which are using the Western provinces of Pakistan on the Afghan border to recruit and train fighters.

For months, international pressure has built on Pakistan to eliminate Taliban and al-Qaida safe havens in the tribal lands of North Waziristan, with whose chiefs Musharraf made a separate peace last year. Since the peace deal, Taliban and al-Qaida activity in that region has risen sharply, with cross-border attacks on NATO troops increasing by 300 percent.

Despite his protestations that Pakistan is doing all it can to fight terrorism, Musharraf has shown little progress. Much of the problem lies within the top leadership of the Pakistani intelligence agencies and armed forces. Many top officers are known to be sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaida, having forged ideological ties with them during the struggle to oust Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s.

President George W. Bush is right to focus again on this troubled region, however belatedly. A new takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and al-Qaida would represent a far greater danger to U.S. security than anything going on in Iraq. It's time for the new congressional leadership to show its support for a determined military push to avert a catastrophic reversal in Afghanistan.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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