- New Delhi (IANS) - With the fall of the Taliban stronghold
of Kunduz becoming imminent, Pakistan faces the embarrassment of its soldiers
being caught while conducting clandestine operations on foreign soil for
the second time in three years.
Senior Indian intelligence officials said the Pakistan Air Force had flown
several missions since Sunday to evacuate top Pakistani military commanders
trapped in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz, which has been besieged
by Northern Alliance forces for the past 10 days.
"According to reports based on information from the Northern Alliance,
up to 300 Pakistan Army regulars could be holed up in Kunduz," an
intelligence official told IANS. "There are reports that Pakistani
officers of the rank of colonel are still in Kunduz."
The reports of Pakistan Army regulars being present in Kunduz comes a little
over two years after they were involved in a clandestine operation to occupy
strategic heights in the Kargil sector in the Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir.
That operation resulted in an armed conflict between nuclear rivals India
and Pakistan, and the Islamabad-backed intruders were pushed back after
a 50-day campaign in which the Indian Army lost more than 500 soldiers.
Islamabad disowned its soldiers involved in the Kargil operation, but Indian
troops recovered documents that pointed to the direct involvement of forces
from the Pakistan Army's Northern Light Infantry.
Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes had Sunday accused Pakistan of
sending its troops to fight alongside the Taliban even after it had joined
the U.S.-led campaign against Afghanistan.
Indian intelligence officials said the Pakistan Army is now making concerted
efforts to pull out its troops from Kunduz to avoid the embarrassment of
having them captured by the Northern Alliance.
The Pakistani troops, including officers from Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), were seconded to the Taliban to act as instructors and military
advisors.
Pakistani officials based in other towns like Mazar-i-Sharif fell back
to Kunduz, the Taliban's last northern stronghold, after Northern Alliance
fighters made rapid advances.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for safe passage for "foreign
fighters" trapped In Afghanistan, but the call was rejected by the
U.S. administration.
U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfled was Friday quoted as saying that
he wanted all the defenders of Kunduz, including foreign fighters, to "either
be killed or taken prisoner."
-
- Copyright © 2001 IANS India Private Limited. All
rights Reserved.
|
