ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Vice President Dick Cheney's unannounced visit to this capital Monday was the latest and most visible sign of renewed American pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Islamic militants in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
But complex domestic considerations in Pakistan, and a keen awareness on Musharraf's part that the Bush administration sees no palatable alternative to his leadership, diminish the prospect of any dramatic Pakistani move against the militants, diplomats and analysts said.
"There is only so far that he is prepared to go," said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading British think tank on security matters. "Some of this is dictated by the [Pakistani] military's view of things, and some by the fact that this is not politically popular in large parts of Pakistan."
Cheney became the latest high-ranking U.S. official to press Musharraf to rein in what American officials characterize as a volatile mix of homegrown militant groups, Taliban strategists and Al Qaeda elements, all operating with increasing freedom in the tribal zones along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
The issue has been central to U.S.-Pakistani relations since the Sept. 11 attacks, but seldom has the Bush administration been as blunt or as public in its pressure on Musharraf, a key ally in the region. The stepped-up pressure also comes as Congress threatens to cut aid to Pakistan unless it sees more concrete results from the nation in combating militants' cross-border infiltration of Afghanistan.
Neither Cheney nor Musharraf spoke publicly before or after their meeting at the presidential palace, which lasted more than two hours. They appeared before cameras for a handshake only.
In a written statement, however, the Pakistani leader's office acknowledged that Musharraf had come under at least indirect criticism. Cheney "expressed U.S. apprehensions of [the] regrouping of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas and called for concerted efforts in countering the threat," the statement said.
Cheney was accompanied by Stephen Kappes, the deputy CIA director, whose presence underscored U.S. concern over intelligence assessments that indicate a deteriorating situation in the tribal areas.
For his part, Musharraf hewed to what has become his government's scripted reply to such concerns: that Pakistan already is doing all it can, and that the burden of confronting the Taliban and its allies must be shared by others, including Afghanistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
