Washington, Feb 28: Signs Al-Qaeda is regrouping and the Taliban plotting a new onslaught in Afghanistan are menacing the always sensitive US-Pakistan anti-terror alliance with new strains and scrutiny.
Vice President Dick Cheney's surprise visit to Pakistan Monday, underscored the delicate maintenance needed in the crucial tie-up forged as the smoke cleared from the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Washington, frustrated that Pakistan has been unable to flush out Al-Qaeda, and gearing up for a new battle with the Taliban, must factor in President Pervez Musharraf's delicate political perch as it applies pressure.
But Cheney's visit to Islamabad, and a flurry of recent statements and warnings floated in the media by the US government are a sign of growing concern, even though they are ritually couched in praise for Pakistan's role so far.
"Many of our most crucial interests intersect in Pakistan, where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda maintain critical sanctuaries," new US intelligence czar Michael McConnell told a congressional hearing Tuesday.
"Pakistan is our partner in the war on terror and has captured several al-Qaeda leaders. However, it is also a major source of Islamic extremism."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday "a lot more needs to be done" to combat terrorist elements in Pakistan, though added Pakistan was committed to doing everything possible.
But given the intricate US-Pakistan relationship, top US officials reject the idea Washington is taking a hard, new tone with Musharraf.
"Let me just make one editorial comment here: I have seen some press reporting that says 'Cheney went in to beat him up, that's wrong,'" said a senior Bush administration official traveling with the vice president.
The official declined to detail Cheney's conversations with Musharraf, other than to note the Pakistani leader had already said a deal with tribal factions in North Waziristan region last September supposed to cut the flow of militants into Afghanistan, had not worked out as he hoped.
Washington last year had last year said the deal could work, if properly applied, but now believes its time is up.
"The tribes have not abided by most of the terms of the agreement," Lieutenant General Michael Maples, US Army Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told a congressional committee on Tuesday.
"Al-Qaeda's network may exploit the agreement for increased freedom of movement and operation," he said.
Frederic Grare, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace said Pakistan, which has paid a heavy price in blood for its operations in the region, may always have had a different view of the deal.
"It was never meant to be working anyway on the timeframe the US had in mind," he said. "The gap in expectations was there in the very beginning."
However, an alternative way to fight the Al-Qaeda buildup are not obvious, given political restrictions on US troops openly operating in Pakistan.
The extent to which extremism is burrowed into Pakistani society is also likely to accentuate problems.
Reported threats from the United States to withhold crucial aid to Pakistan without more action against extremists may also be inoperable.
"Relations with Pakistan just can't be a blunt instrument, there is a long history there in which we turned our back on Pakistan and people have long memories and they remember that," said James Carafano, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation which has close ties to the administration.
"On the other hand, this is a serious problem, it is not just a serious problem for Afghanistan, it is a serious problem for Pakistan."
According to an official Pakistani statement, Cheney expressed "apprehensions" to Musharraf about Al-Qaeda regrouping in Pakistan's tribal areas, and serious concerns about the possible Taliban offensive.
A week ago, tensions were set simmering when Islamabad dismissed as "absurd" US claims Al-Qaeda had set up new training camps in the remote tribal area.
A US official had earlier said compounds training 10 or 20 people at a time for possible attacks on the West had been detected over the past year in a semi-autonomous tribal area along the mountainous border with Afghanistan.
The compounds are "small," the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "They are not like the big camps that they had seen in Afghanistan previously."
Bureau Report