President Pervez Musharraf warned that any unilateral action by US troops to enter Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan in the hunt for al-Qaeda militants would be regarded as an invasion, and asserted they would “regret” that day.

“The US seems to think what our army cannot do, they can do. This is a wrong perception. I challenge anybody to come into our mountains. They would regret that day,” Musharraf told Straits Times in what seems to be an open dare.

Asked if any unauthorised incursion by US forces in the mountainous tribal areas in the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban militants would be considered an invasion, Musharraf replied: “Certainly. If they come without our permission.”

Musharraf’s sternest language yet with the US came in the backdrop of reports that Washington was considering granting the Pentagon and CIA new authority to conduct more aggressive covert operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas where al-Qaeda is believed to be gaining strength.

Musharraf, however, said when it comes to Osama bin Laden, the “methodology of getting him will be discussed together and we’ll attack the target together”.

“Any action against him will be free, if we know where he is, if we have good intelligence,” he said, adding US forces alone would fare no better than their Pakistani counterparts in the rugged terrain.

“Here it’s a mountainous terrain. Minimal communications infrastructure. Every individual has a weapon and each tribe has its own armoury and they don’t like intrusions into their privacy at all,” he said, adding “it’s better if they ask some military commander of their own whether their army coming into our mountains will operate better than our army.”

... contd.