Haven for terrorists

Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

The failure to adopt a strong policy on how to deal with al-Qaida forces holed up in Pakistan’s ungoverned tribal areas has long undermined President Bush’s claim that he is leading a winning fight against terrorism.

In the hours and days after 9/11 Bush vowed over and over that his administration would not tire in its pursuit of Osama bin Laden and the other al-Qaida leaders who had brought such tragedy to the United States.

But it did tire of that fight after U.S. forces drove al-Qaida from Afghanistan across the border into Pakistan. For Bush, it was enough that the president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, loosely agreed to send elements of his army after al-Qaida — in exchange for billions of U.S. dollars.

For years reporters have been writing that this policy is failing. Government officials have also acknowledged the failure, and with some alarm. For example, CIA Director Michael Hayden said last month that the al-Qaida buildup in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas represents a renewed threat to the United States.

On Thursday the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, released a lengthy report concurring with that statement. By reviewing numerous U.S. government documents and by interviewing Pakistani defense officials, the GAO reported it had found “broad agreement” that “al-Qaida had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven in Pakistan’s FATA” (the tribal areas).

The report outlined national security goals for that region as recommended by the 9/11 Commission and mandated by Congress. But it added that “no comprehensive plan for meeting (those goals) has been developed” by the Bush administration.

Elections last month changed the political dynamics in Pakistan. President Musharraf now has ceremonial, not dictatorial, powers. Any comprehensive plan that is finally pieced together should include diplomacy with the new prime minister and parliament — not just a phone call from Bush to Musharraf. And the diplomacy must result in an understanding that the tribal areas cannot serve as a safe haven any longer for the world’s most wanted terrorists.