Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 0 Frontline Pakistan
and their attempts to keep Pakistan’s participation in the manhunt as
low-key as possible. In an interview with Time magazine in October
2005, Musharraf acknowledged that he was not eager for bin Laden
to be caught in his country. ‘One would prefer that he is captured
somewhere outside Pakistan, by some other people,’ he said.
Faced with mounting US pressure, Musharraf took another critical
decision in February 2004, ordering his forces to launch the biggest
offensive yet against al-Qaeda fugitives in Waziristan tribal region.
The US authorities had warned that they would cross the border and
bomb al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries if Pakistan did not take action.
Musharraf’s war on terror was about to move from a security operation
to a full-scale military conflict.