Betrayal, say the American members of congress. And the members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States are convinced they know who the traitor is. In a report that is currently making waves in Washington, the politicians claim that the former Pakistani chief of intelligence, Hamid Gul, promised Taliban leaders in July 1999 that he would give them "three to four hours of advance warning" prior to each planned American missile attack.

These are embarrassing allegations, especially at a time when everyone is talking about the Islamabad-Washington alliance and about Pakistan, the US' most important ally in George W. Bush's war on terrorism.

Did the former chief of intelligence really betray Pakistan's American allies? Could it be that he is still doing so today, as Islamabad's elite troops, together with US military advisors, hunt down Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda compatriots in the wild, mountainous region along the border with Afghanistan, all the while encountering an astonishingly well-prepared enemy?

Is Gul responsible for the fact that bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, managed to elude the attackers in the eleventh hour, escaping through a secret tunnel?

A luxurious bungalow in Rawalpindi, Wembley lawns, tasteful rattan furniture. This is the refuge of Pakistan's rich and powerful, a place where former chief of intelligence and lieutenant general Hamid Gul has been able to retire with full honors. The accused shrugs his shoulders and says: "Oh, the Americans," as if that explained everything, and asks for tea to be served.

Then he proudly presents the souvenirs of his past. The prayer rug given to him by his former Saudi Arabian intelligence colleague, Prince Turki Ibn al-Faisal ("a great friend of the Taliban and bin Laden"); the plaque from the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst), which contains a piece of the Berlin Wall and the inscription: "To our respected ally, for his valuable contribution."

Of course, says Gul, who sympathizes with the Islamists, he knew bin Laden well, calling him a "modest and brilliant warrior." He says that he was the Taliban's guest of honor a government function in Kabul. "However, I did not depart from the common line. It was the Americans and the Europeans who made the shift. Once upon a time, they were all in favor of the holy war, and jihad was one of their favorite expressions. In the 1980s, when the Mujaheddin were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, they couldn't supply them with enough weapons, and they continued to have dealings with the Taliban later on. Back then, the USA used my services. Now they are slandering me. I have long since lost my access to exclusive information."

The telephone rings. Gul is invited to an exclusive Pakistani conference on intelligence and security issues. Gul says he will think about whether to attend.

In his opinion, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is in the process of become George W. Bush's lackey and, in doing so, digging his own grave. "American soldiers operating on our territory; our proud people will not forgive him for that." And then former spy chief Gul, suddenly the conspiracy theorist, leans forward and whispers: "A few of my CIA counterparts, the US military and the Israeli Mossad must have been in the know about the attack on the Twin Towers." Otherwise, he says, why so long before the fighter jets took off?

Welcome to Pakistan, the land of schizophrenia and stark contrasts: a poorhouse (it has an illiteracy rate of about 54 percent) and nuclear power (it has up to 50 nuclear warheads; home to some of the world's top teams in the colonial sport of cricket as well as the age-old equestrian sport of Buskashi, in which the object of play is a decapitated calf. It's Bush country and at the same time it's bin Laden country: a close ally of the United States, but also an incubator for Islamist terrorism.

Pakistan, created during the bloody partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 into a predominantly Hindu India and a predominantly Muslim "land of the pure," is the only country in the world that owes its existence to Islam. Upon being founded, Pakistan was immediately catapulted into the center of global politics, and three wars with India followed. By no later than September 11, 2001, and in light of its dramatic shift toward the West, the world's attention once again became focused on Pakistan, a country wracked by terrorism and at risk of nuclear war with its neighbor and of breaking apart.

The Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche calls Pakistan "the world's most dangerous country," and CIA advisor Robert Galluci says that it poses "the greatest threat to the future of the United States." Of the 620 suspected terrorists currently in detention at the US base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, 540 were arrested on Pakistani soil.

Islamabad has made global headlines three times during the last three months alone, in each case for increasingly alarming incidents. In December, there were two attempts in the space of twelve days to assassinate President Musharraf, 60. In both cases, Musharraf survived the attacks, apparently planned by a member of his innermost circle, by a hair's breadth. In February, nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, responding to international pressure, swore an oath of disclosure. He admitted to having passed on top secret nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran, supposedly on his own and without the knowledge of Pakistan's military or political establishment. By the day after his confession, the president had already pardoned the sinner, referring to him as "my hero."

Washington accepted the farce, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell even gave a Musharraf a special gift during his visit to Islamabad in mid-March: Pakistan was upgraded to the privileged position of a "non-NATO ally," a status enjoyed by such traditional allies as Israel, South Korea and Japan, but not by Pakistan's long-time arch enemy, India. This status enables Pakistan to purchase state-of-the-art US weapons at preferred prices. Musharraf was all too happy to accept: Faustian pact number one.

In return, Musharraf apparently gave the Americans free rein to combat terror. Military advisors from Washington and Special Forces Unit 121, which was already partly responsible for tracking down Saddam, are playing a key role in the current operation. However, it's an operation that is also costing many civilian casualties. US politicians proudly speak of their new "hammer and anvil approach" on both sides of the border. With the help of Musharraf's army and regional tribal warriors, they intend to lure Al Qaeda fighters across Pakistan's mountain passes and into their trap in Afghanistan.

Washington finds this plan so promising that the US government is treating Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup in October 1999, like a raw egg, and is even praising him for his "steps toward democracy."

"And what would they be?," asks Samina Ahmed, a social scientist working for the International Crisis Group in Islamabad.

"George W. Bush would not accept such an absence of democracy from any other ally," says this resolute woman. And then she lists her grievances: massive electoral fraud during the referendum on General Musharraf's extension of his presidential mandate and during parliamentary elections; the blasphemy law, which clears the way for religious despotism; the "Hudud" ordinance, under which a woman's testimony in court, even in the case of sex-based offences, counts as only a fraction of a man's (this is why 88 percent of women imprisoned in Pakistan are convicted of "sexual offences," even though investigations by independent attorneys have shown that almost all were abused.)

Musharraf is not considered particularly devout. He enjoys his evening glass of whisky, pleads for a more tolerant Islam and, in an interview with Der Spiegel in April 2002, outed himself as an admirer of the secular reformer Ataturk. In the dispute over Kashmir, he has initiated cautious steps toward rapprochement with India. But this did not prevent him, for purely political reasons, from breaking his most important promise: his self-proclaimed "jihad against extremism."

Almost none of the country's radical Islamic schools has been registered. The madrassas, which educate more than 1.5 million young men, are still not required to submit lesson plans. After having been outlawed, extremist organizations that promote violence have simply renewed their operations under new names, and none of their leaders has been brought to trial. In spite of having been accused of involvement in terrorism in 20 pending lawsuits, extremist Azam Tariq was permitted to run for a seat in parliament and, after being elected, has supported the Musharraf administration.

The general continues to exclude the political leaders of the secular opposition parties, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who have been forced into exile. Last December, he concluded a dubious deal with the opposition party Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamist parties. The MMA agreed to accept Musharraf as president until 2007, provided he resigns his position as head of the military by the end of 2004: Faustian pact number two.

But the general's attempt to curry favor with religious extremists is unlikely to do him any good, at least not if the Jamia Darul Uloom Haqqania ("Truth and Reality") madrassa in the city of Akora Khattak becomes an educational model for religious schools throughout the country.

The school's true purpose is already clear at its entrance, where posters depict its director, Sami ul-Haq, 66, facing hundreds of his followers and holding the Koran in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other. The man, who holds the religious title of Maulana, is viewed as a parliamentary leader of the MMA's most radical wing, and as a supporter of both Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Eight former ministers received religious, and possibly military, training at his school. For many years, Mullah Omar sent messages of greeting to this West Point of the Islamist movement, and bin Laden is said to have preferred sending his Arab followers to the school.

Sami ul-Haq, as a senator in the upper house of the Pakistani parliament, is entitled to a large Toyota sedan as his official vehicle. Most of the time, however, he drives a brand-new turbo-charged SUV, a gift from Saudi fellow believers.

The Maulana is delayed, and Sami ul-Haq's nephew invites me into the house for pastries and oranges. One of the last Western visitors to set foot in the plain visiting room, furnished only with cushions, was here just over two years ago: American Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The claim that his abduction and murder a short time later had something to do with his visit to the "University of the Jihad" is part of the realm of speculation.

The Sami ul-Haq arrives. He is a stately man with a long black beard, rimless glasses and a surprisingly soft voice. He says that his father founded the madrassa in 1947, and that almost 3,000 students currently live on the campus and study the Koran. The youngest is five years old. According to its most senior teacher, the school is funded exclusively through donations, which include computers "that are supplied from various sources." He says that the school deliberately declined to accept government subsidies, because it wishes to remain independent.

Does he preach terror? When Sami ul-Haq is asked this question, his severe mouth is distorted into a smug smile. "Well, first we must define terror. The Taliban and Al Qaeda are fighting against American oppression. Their methods may not always be our methods, but they have the right to do so. Bush should ask himself what it is that prompts young people to sacrifice the holiest thing they can give, their lives."

Senator Sami ul-Haq has tried his hand at politics, as a member of the MMA, but now he no longer believes in parliamentary government. "By taking sides with the Americans, Musharraf has given up any common cause," says the manager of the holy war, ending the conversation. It sounds as if the president's fate has already been sealed.

The Koran school is only an hour's drive from Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province. The NWFP is Pakistan's Wild West, a mountainous, inaccessible region which, like the Afghan provinces on the other side of the border, Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia and Khost, is inhabited almost exclusively by Pashtuns. The troops of Alexander the Great, the great Moguls and the British colonial rulers were all unable to tame or even subdue these proud and obstinate fighters for any extended period of time. Their gruesome tribal blood feuds involving disputes over "zar, zan and zamin" ("gold, women and land")are offset by a code of honor that grants guests unconditional protection. And almost every man carries a weapon, something so matter-of-fact that he would feel castrated without one.

Peshawar, the last major station before the legendary Khyber Pass, was always a wild frontier city filled with weapons merchants and opium dealers, news dealers and spies, and their preferred meeting place was the Qissa Khawani, the storytellers' bazaar. Last Monday, not far from this traditional abode of the tall tale, the spokesman of the Pakistani military issued a statement. According to the statement, the army, during its major offensive into the largely autonomous tribal regions of South Waziristan near Wana, lost about 50 soldiers in fierce battles with foreign fighters and, admittedly, local tribesmen, but also achieved significant successes. The army claimed that it had arrested 163 militants, including 73 foreigners, and that "the Al Qaeda chief of intelligence, Mister Abdullah, was killed."

But what about the captures of those truly "high-ranking targets" mentioned by the Pakistani military leadership, most importantly Ayman al-Zawahiri?

It is no longer believed to be entirely certain that bin Laden's deputy was in fact among the approximately 500 militants who were surrounded by the Pakistanis. The week before last, shortly after al-Zawahiri had supposedly come under siege, the Al Jazeera TV network broadcast a taped message. In the message, al-Zawahiri declared that it was the duty of all Pakistani Muslims to overthrow Musharraf. And Al Qaeda's supposed number ten man, Uzbek extremist Tahir Yuldash, appears to have escaped his pursuers, in spite of apparently having been injured. Presumably, he was brought to safety through a labyrinth of mountain tunnels, if he was even in the region.

That evening, in the foreigners' club in Peshawar, an inebriated American shook his head and said: "The thing our friends are trying to sell as a great success, such as this Mister Abdullah, whom no one knows." Ever since the MMA's extremists came to power in the provincial parliament, even the hotels have been forced to close their bars reserved for non-Muslims. This club is the only place in the city where alcohol is served. Music CDs have also disappeared from the market, as have "un-Islamic" film posters portraying Indian beauties, as well as all "sexually suggestive" window mannequins. They have been replaced by bin Laden candies, bin Laden posters and bin Laden telephone cards.

"What a military disaster," continues the bar patron. "And in spite of all our logistical assistance with satellites and, more recently, with manpower…" Then the man falls silent. Judging by the reproachful looks he is getting, he has already said too much.

Both Washington and Islamabad have urged Americans in the Pakistani border region to make themselves as invisible as possible. Any member of the US military sighted in the fighting zone, which is already off-limits to journalists, could create a problem for Musharraf, and could trigger an uprising. The US ambassador in Kabul, of all people, carelessly mentioned that "a few of the most important Al Qaeda people" are already on the Pakistani side of the border and that they should be hunted down there, prompting Islamabad to issue a furious denial.

The US military advisors have withdrawn to their command centers, built not far from the airfields they are using at Mianwali and Kohat. If one is to believe intelligence reports, Osama bin Laden's latest number one opponent, US Rear Admiral William McRaven, head of Task Force 121, has spent the past few days in Kohat, a town 90 kilometers south of Peshawar.

The clandestine special unit includes intelligence agents from the CIA's Pashtu-speaking unit, military veterans from the army's Delta Force, and capable specialists from the air force and marines. They are said to be able to respond "with lighting swiftness" whenever reconnaissance locates bin Laden with one of its unmanned Predator drones.

As in the case of the successful capture of Saddam Hussein, the US task force also places a premium on "humint," the "human" intelligence gathered through local contacts.

Each appearance of a key Al Qaeda figure is recorded on a map, as is each family relationship. Many of the "Arab Afghans" surrounding Osama bin Laden have been in the Pashtun regions for decades and have married in local villages. At the Americans' request, the Pakistani military is now also focusing on arresting women, so as to learn more about the Al Qaeda leadership and their whereabouts. They use money as an enticement (a 50 million dollar reward for bin Laden and 25 million for Al-Zawahiri), as well as new weapons, schools and roads.

Task force leader McRaven is considered a boy wonder in Washington. He has written a book about special forces and, after 2001, became one of the key counterterrorism advisors at the White House. "If anyone is clever enough to catch bin Laden, it would be McRaven and his task force," General Wayne Downing told Newsweek, which quoted a former commander as having said that McRaven is also extremely physically fit. According to the commander, he could "stick a knife into the ribs of any enemy within a nanosecond."

But is it even possible to develop a spider web in Waziristan like the one that was used in Iraq to ultimately ensnare target number one? Isn't bin Laden vastly more popular here than Saddam was in his target territory, and isn't the terrain, with its mountain passes and caves, much more difficult?

According to the most recent, unconfirmed report, bin Laden was sighted near the Pakistani border village of Arnawai, while crossing into Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Taliban leader Mullah Omar was injured during a US bombing attack. Depending on the source, his injuries were mild, moderately severe, or life-threatening. "Shabnamah" leaflets, letters containing his personal instructions, have turned up, supposedly brought into the border recently by messengers. Are they authentic? If so, could an arrest be a matter of financial negotiation?

The saying goes that "Pashtuns cannot be bought." At the command center, McRaven and Co. have apparently added their own take on the saying: "But sometimes they can be rented."

ERICH FOLLATH

Translated by Christopher Sultan