Islamabad Makes a Tradeoff--A Times (Iran related)

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3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Mar 18, 2005

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GC18Df08.html



ISLAMABAD MAKES A TRADEOFF

By Kaushik Kapisthalam

Kaushik Kapisthalam is a freelance defense and strategic affairs analyst based in the United States.

Although Pakistani forces conducted their customary vigorous anti-terrorism operations near the Afghanistan border prior to visits by US officials, the real interest in Wednesday's meeting between President General Pervez Musharraf and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice centered on Iran.

Before Rice's whirlwind visit to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (she also goes to Japan, South Korea and China) Washington was abuzz with talk that the Bush administration had convinced Musharraf to lend support to American action against Iran for its alleged nuclear weapons program.

This reinforces a number of reports by Asia Times Online's Syed Saleem Shahzad over the past months that Pakistan had agreed to host American troops and intelligence assets near its long border with Iran in Balochistan province in preparation for a possible attack on Iran, including the training of special US forces in Karachi - see, for example, US keeps Iran in its sights
of January 28.

In return, the US seems to be more receptive to Pakistan's long-term request for F-16 fighter aircraft. On Wednesday, Rice thanked Musharraf for "superb support in the war on terror", according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. The possible sale of F-16 fighter planes came up, Boucher said, but he gave no details.

There are further contours of the deal - Pakistan has provided material evidence to the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the items and scientific information that Pakistani scientists provided to support the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

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