Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
February 8, 2008
Pg. 15
By Ishtiaq Mahsud, Associated Press
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Two Pakistani officials said yesterday that their government held secret talks with Taliban fighters and tribal elders near the Afghan border before a cease-fire just announced by the militants.
The officials familiar with the talks said they took place at an undisclosed location in South Waziristan, a semiautonomous region that is home to scores of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, many of whom fled there from neighboring Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The officials would not say who represented the government or how long the dialogue had been going on.
Militant representatives included Siraj Haqqani, a prominent Afghan militant blamed for attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan, one official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Few other details have emerged about terms of the cease-fire, announced Wednesday by a spokesman for Tehrike-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, after weeks of heavy fighting.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf did not confirm a truce, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the national leadership was ready for a dialogue with the Taliban.
Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, an al Qaedalinked commander based in South Waziristan whom Mr. Musharraf’s government has blamed for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan, including the Dec. 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Mrs. Bhutto’s party condemned any dialogue between the government and Taliban militants.
“The government is holding talks with the man blamed by it for the killing of Benazir Bhutto. We condemn it,” spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said.
In Washington, the State Department signaled that it would oppose any agreement that resembled the last truce. A ceasefire in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed in July, was widely seen as a setback in the war against terror, giving the Taliban and al Qaeda a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and extend their control of areas within Pakistan.
Meanwhile, thousands of Bhutto followers gathered at her tomb to mark the end of mourning for her and to begin her party’s campaign for this month’s parliamentary election as police arrested two more suspects in the suicide attack.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said the two suspects were picked up in Rawalpindi, where Mrs. Bhutto died in a gun and bomb attack Dec. 27. Last month, police in northwestern Pakistan arrested two other suspects, including a 15-year-old boy.
A three-member team of British investigators from Scotland Yard arrived in the capital Islamabad early yesterday to share with Pakistan the findings of its probe into exactly how Mrs. Bhutto died. British diplomats said an executive summary of the report will be released today.
February 8, 2008
Pg. 15
By Ishtiaq Mahsud, Associated Press
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Two Pakistani officials said yesterday that their government held secret talks with Taliban fighters and tribal elders near the Afghan border before a cease-fire just announced by the militants.
The officials familiar with the talks said they took place at an undisclosed location in South Waziristan, a semiautonomous region that is home to scores of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, many of whom fled there from neighboring Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The officials would not say who represented the government or how long the dialogue had been going on.
Militant representatives included Siraj Haqqani, a prominent Afghan militant blamed for attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan, one official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Few other details have emerged about terms of the cease-fire, announced Wednesday by a spokesman for Tehrike-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, after weeks of heavy fighting.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf did not confirm a truce, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the national leadership was ready for a dialogue with the Taliban.
Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, an al Qaedalinked commander based in South Waziristan whom Mr. Musharraf’s government has blamed for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan, including the Dec. 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Mrs. Bhutto’s party condemned any dialogue between the government and Taliban militants.
“The government is holding talks with the man blamed by it for the killing of Benazir Bhutto. We condemn it,” spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said.
In Washington, the State Department signaled that it would oppose any agreement that resembled the last truce. A ceasefire in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed in July, was widely seen as a setback in the war against terror, giving the Taliban and al Qaeda a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and extend their control of areas within Pakistan.
Meanwhile, thousands of Bhutto followers gathered at her tomb to mark the end of mourning for her and to begin her party’s campaign for this month’s parliamentary election as police arrested two more suspects in the suicide attack.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said the two suspects were picked up in Rawalpindi, where Mrs. Bhutto died in a gun and bomb attack Dec. 27. Last month, police in northwestern Pakistan arrested two other suspects, including a 15-year-old boy.
A three-member team of British investigators from Scotland Yard arrived in the capital Islamabad early yesterday to share with Pakistan the findings of its probe into exactly how Mrs. Bhutto died. British diplomats said an executive summary of the report will be released today.