Pakistan moves some troops away from Afghanistan and toward India
Pakistan's action reflects continuing tensions with India in the wake of November's terror attacks in Mumbai, which Indian authorities have blamed on Pakistani groups.
Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan — Pakistan canceled furloughs for army troops and was redeploying some units from the Afghan frontier to the Indian border, security and intelligence officials said today.
The moves reflected continuing tensions over the terror attacks a month ago in Mumbai, India's commercial and entertainment hub. Indian authorities have blamed Pakistan-based militants for the shooting rampage that killed more than 170 people.
In the intervening weeks, India and Pakistan -- nuclear-armed rivals who have fought three wars in the last 60 years -- have veered between conciliatory gestures and stridently nationalistic statements. Both governments insist they do not want armed conflict, but both have said they will defend their own interests.
Senior diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveled to the region in the aftermath of the attacks, urging Pakistan to cooperate fully in the investigation and crack down on militant groups implicated in the attacks. Pakistan's government has since taken some steps against the accused groups, the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliated charity Jamaat ud-Dawa, including arrests and raids on the groups' facilities, but says India has lagged in providing evidence about the attackers.
Pakistan's shifting of troops away from the Afghan border is likely to come as a blow to the Bush administration, which has praised Pakistan's military offensive against insurgents based in its tribal area. The lawless zone abutting the Afghan frontier is a stronghold for Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan had no immediate comment on the Pakistani troop movements, but senior American commanders in Afghanistan have consistently said that a major Pakistani offensive in the tribal areas, launched in August, has helped dampen insurgents' ability to strike at Western troops inside Afghanistan. A Pakistani Taliban spokesman who goes by the name of Maulvi Omar welcomed news of the redeployment. Speaking to reporters from an undisclosed location, he said Taliban fighters would not launch new attacks against Pakistani troops in the tribal areas.
The scope and repercussions of the Pakistani troop redeployment were not yet clear. Pakistani news reports, citing security officials, said movements involved thousands of soldiers from the army's 14th Division. Local witnesses said columns of Pakistani troops with heavy weapons had been seen leaving positions in the tribal areas of Bajaur and South Waziristan today.
