http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=171593
Pakistan enables terror by neglect
By Peter Brookes/ Syndicated Columnist
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Pakistan's getting worse on the terrorism front - or maybe the problem
has just grown more obvious. Either way, we've got a major terrorism
threat on our hands.
Britain's domestic spooks, the MI5, revealed last month that
they've foiled five terror attacks since the horrific 7/7 subway-bus
bombings in London in 2005. They're tracking 30 new plots, mostly of
Pakistani origin.
Of course, those are just the plots they know of.
Worse, British intelligence said they believe that al-Qaeda is
regrouping in Pakistan, which could put the United Kingdom at
significant risk of more terrorism.
And MI5 doesn't believe that Britain is al-Qaeda's lone target: It
could be a stepping stone for Pakistani-originated or assisted terror
attacks elsewhere, including in the United States (still al-Qaeda's No.
1 mark), Canada and Europe.
We've already had a close call on that nightmarish front - last
summer's plan by U.K.-based al-Qaeda acolytes to bring down 10 or so
U.S.-bound airliners. That plan, too, had ties into Pakistan.
Then there's Dhiren Barot - the Pakistan-trained British convert to
Islam. He was convicted last month for plotting to blow up the New York
Stock Exchange and other sites with help from Osama's Pakistan crowd.
Radicalized by local imams, British recruits head to Pakistan. Once
schooled in terror, al-Qaeda's new foot soldiers return home, staying in
touch with their Pakistani al-Qaeda contacts.
The plucky Brits are doing all they can to prevent another
terrorist attack. But that's not a direct answer to the Pakistan problem.
Bad enough that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf eased off the
Taliban a few months ago, resulting in a 300 percent increase in attacks
across the border in Afghanistan. Now al-Qaeda is blossoming in the same
lawless tribal regions that the Taliban uses to stage those raids.
The question has become unavoidable: Is Islamabad serious about
fighting extremism and terror?
True, Pakistan has made invaluable contributions to combating
al-Qaeda since 9/11. Musharraf took a political risk in October, OK'ing
the missile strike against the compound thought to be hosting al-Qaeda
No. 2 Ayman al Zawahiri. (It missed him by just hours.) But Musharraf's
policy in the tribal areas isn't undermining the Taliban or al-Qaeda -
and may be enabling their resurgence.
Pakistan needs to do more to fully deny these, indeed all,
terrorist groups the use of its territory. Otherwise, Pakistan and the
rest of the world will pay a hefty price.
Peter Brookes is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. This
column first ran in the New York Post.
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