Famous editor of the Peshawar-based Jang group's The NEWS International, especially noted for holding the last interview with Osama bin Laden and being the first one to meet Mullah Omar way back in March 1995, Rahimullah Yusufzai is considered an authority on Afghan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas affairs. The government of Pakistan has awarded him with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and Sitara-e- Imtiaz for his achievement in the field of journalism. Recently, he spoke to R. C Ganjoo on US role in Afghanistan and Pakistan and other issues. Excerpts :

Q: Could you tell us something about the role the United States plays in the Af-Pak region ?    Ans: U.S is an active player in this region . It has had hundreds of thousand troops here since October 2001 . America will not leave Afghanistan completely. May be, they will retain a permanent military base in Afghanistan. US military, political, diplomatic and economic involvement is very deep. Also, there is a tripartite military commission in which US officials sit along with Pak, Afghan and NATO ones. They treat the Afghan–Pak border as one region and work on a strategy to defeat Taliban and al- Qaida .

Rahimullah Yusufzai

   Q: Reports are USA is losing war against Taliban and has mounted pressure on Pakistan to fight Taliban in Afghanistan.

   Ans: In the past they said they would not have negotiations with Taliban terming them as terrorists. On her recent visit to Pakistan, American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Taliban were terrorists but we needed to talk to them. They could not defeat Taliban militarily despite an efforts for 10 years and the support of 49 countries and 1, 5000 NATO forces. They want to talk to Taliban now.

   Q: What are the reasons of mistrust between the US and Pakistan?

   Ans.Both are working on cross purposes. The US feels Pakistan is not sincere in supporting its war efforts in Afghanistan. Pakistan has instead allowed Afghan Taliban-- Mullah Umar’s Taliban or the Hakkani network’s --- to stay in Pakistan. There has always been a lack of trust between the two counties on Pakistan’s nuclear programme and its inability to take action against militant groups active in Afghanistan and India. But I think they will not break off, for they need each other. Pakistan needs economic support from the US and the latter Pakistan’s to wriggle out of the Afghan imbroglio .

   Q: What about the Memogate scandal? Will it have any direct or indirect impact on the government in Pakistan ?

   Ans. I think the civil establishment under the command of Asif Zardari was trying to weaken the army through Pakistan ambassador to US Husain Haqqani. Military was looking for an opportunity to settle score with Haqqani and that is what has happened. Haqqani could not have written to US without Zardari’s nod. Haqqani has finally landed in trouble because he used to talk against the army. Many Pakistanis thought he was not representing Pakistan in the US but was rather promoting Zardari and his party PPP. There is speculation that Zardai is on way out. But I feel he enjoys the support in parliament and there will be no internal coup against him.

   Q: NATO forces recently bombarded Pak military posts .

   Ans: There was already some anger among NATO forces against Pakistan. They thought it had not been cooperating in military operation against militants in Waziristan. My own feeling is that there was confusion that led to this incident . US felt they were fired upon and they called for air support and used drone operation .

   Q: Osama bin laden was killed by Americans in Abottabad. Was it an operation with the tacit support of the Pak establishment?

   Ans: The Abottabad Commission is there to investigate the matter and make its report public. We are waiting for more information as to whether the government of Pakistan and its army were aware of the operation. My feeling is that some people in the government and the army must have been aware of this US raid . Some message must have been passed on to the Pakistan authority .

   Q: Is al-Qaida still active in the region ?

   Ans: al-Qaida was always weak . After the assassination of Osama bin laden it has further weakened. US is saying that about 50 al-Qaida activists are left in Afghan and 100 to 200 of them from Arabs are hiding in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. al-Qaida is now unable to operate independently or openly. It can’t really coordinate attacks. I think al-Qaida is losing in the Arab world also because now democratic uprisings are taking place. People have come to realize if they can change governments through ballot, why resort to bullet. al-Qaida is losing its relevance so much so that its leader today Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri is finding it difficult for him to survive .

   Q: How would you describe the present situation in Baluchistan and FATA ?

   Ans: In the Federally Administered Tribal Areas military operations are still going on in Kurram and Orakzai. The army has about 1,4000 troops deployed there. In Malakand the army is still controlling position. We don’t know how long the army will stay. In Baluchistan there is low -level insurgency . Most of the separatist leaders have left for Europe, UK and UAE and sought political asylum there. There is demoralization among the Baluch fighters. There is a big drop in attacks being carried out by the Baluch military. There is, however, no initiative to find a political solution. The Baluchistan may be quiet today but can explode any time.