Word: musharraf
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...negotiate. It didn't work. By the time the government laid siege to the Red Mosque and the adjacent seminary, it had become a symbol of religious defiance, not only for militant Muslims, but for many Pakistanis who were increasingly disillusioned with the military dictatorship led by President Pervez Musharraf. Though the students had harassed and frightened many in the nation's capital, who feared their attempts at Talibanization, they were largely revered as martyrs upon their death at the hands of the government security forces. The siege of the Red Mosque was a turning point for Pakistan, as opposition...
...Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban and the man accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has embraced the cause of the Red Mosque and refers to it often in his public condemnations of Musharraf's government. Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of a militant group that took over the once popular tourist destination of Swat valley has sworn to avenge the death of those lost in the raid...
...Administration limited cross-border operations when General Pervez Musharraf was in charge in Islamabad, on the grounds that they might undermine the authority of a key ally in the war on terrorism. Musharraf's troops were meant to track down al-Qaeda commanders on the Pakistani side of the border, a task they performed fitfully. When a coalition of democratic parties came to power after elections in February, the Administration braced itself for even less help hunting terrorists. Sure enough, the new government scaled back antiterrorism operations and promised to find a political solution to the growing pro--al-Qaeda...
...Osama bin Laden or the CIA's effort to catch him? Nothing has characterized the fruitlessness of the hunt for the al-Qaeda leader so much as the recurrent - and mostly inaccurate - reports that he is seriously ailing, or even at death's door. In 2002, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said bin Laden had kidney disease, and that he had required a dialysis machine when he lived in Afghanistan. That same year, the FBI's top counterterrorism official, Dale Watson, said, "I personally think he is probably not with us anymore." Since then, of course, bin Laden has appeared...
During the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, Pakistan backed the Taliban by offering training, funding and weapons. In 2001 President General Pervez Musharraf severed the ties, but many observers believe that some elements within the military have retained links, either for ideological reasons or in order to keep control over their neighbor. "I do not believe it is centrally directed or accepted," says a Western military official in Pakistan who was not authorized to speak on the record, "but I do believe there are individuals at the lower field levels who are maintaining ties...