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

Frontline Pakistan
with Washington to send a Pakistani special commando force into
Afghanistan to capture bin Laden using the ISI’s information. Under the
plan, which was suggested by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
during his visit to Washington in July 1999, the USA had agreed to
provide $25 million for training a group of ex-ISI and Pakistani army
officers for the operation. The detail of the operation was worked
out in subsequent meetings between the ISI’s then chief, Lt.-General
Ziauddin, and CIA officials in Washington in September. 11 But before
the plan could be implemented Sharif had been ousted from power.
General Ziauddin, who was appointed as Chief of Army Staff by Sharif,
was arrested after Musharraf’s loyalists took over control of Islamabad.
Pakistani military officials argued the plan was not realistic and would
never have taken off. However, Washington continued to press the
military regime to get bin Laden expelled from Afghanistan.
In January 2000, Musharraf promised senior American officials that
he would meet with the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar and
press him on the matter of expelling bin Laden. But the visit never
materialized. 12 In March 2000, President Clinton made a one-day
stopover in Islamabad on his way back from India. It was the first
time a US president had been there since 1969. Clinton made the
trip despite strong opposition from members of his administration.
Washington had imposed sanctions on Pakistan after the military coup
and relations between the two countries had hit a new low. During
his brief one-to-one meeting, Clinton asked the General for help
regarding bin Laden. The US President later told his aides: ‘I offered
him the moon when I went to see him, in terms of better relations with
the United States, if he would help us get bin Laden and deal with
another issue or two.’ 13 Ambassador Lodhi, who was present at the
meeting, denied that any such offer was made. ‘I don’t remember any
moon that Pakistan was offered,’ she said.
Again in May that year President Clinton reminded Musharraf
to carry out his promise to visit Afghanistan and convince Mullah
Omar to get rid of bin Laden. In June, CIA Director George Tenet
travelled to Pakistan with the same message. Musharraf could not
visit Afghanistan because of clear indications that Mullah Omar would
not respond positively to any suggestion to extradite bin Laden. It
was also apparent that his hardline generals, particularly General
Mahmood, were not keen to push the issue too much as the Taliban
prepared to launch the ‘final’ assault against the opposition Northern
Alliance. The Arab militants were an important part of the Taliban