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WASHINGTON : The United States has asked Pakistan to arrest and bring to justice a Taliban militant commander Islamabad was negotiating with to underline its commitment to the "war on terror."
The commander, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been accused by the CIA of masterminding the assassination in December of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, has been negotiating with the new Pakistan coalition government.
The government, led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has pledged to completely overhaul Islamabad's counter terrorism pursuit after defeating US-backed President Pervez Musharraf's political allies in February elections.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a congressional hearing Tuesday that Washington was concerned over the negotiations with the Taliban, whom US and NATO troops are fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.
He said Washington had repeatedly cautioned Islamabad about the talks despite a pledge from Gilani's government not to give "free space" to the extremist group using remote tribal areas as safe haven to attack Afghanistan.
Asked by a lawmaker how Washington would gauge any counter terrorism success notched by Pakistan, Negroponte said "one of the metrics" was a lessening of cross border attacks into Afghanistan.
"Another would be if you saw the government operating effectively against some of these militant extremists, like for example bringing Baitullah Mehsud, the head of this extremist group in South Waziristan, capturing him and bringing him to justice, which is what should happen to him," Negroponte said.
The United States, he said, was concerned there were "elements" in the Pakistan government pushing for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban, ousted from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"We hope that they proceed cautiously and not accept an outcome that will give extremist elements the ability to use the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) area with impunity to carry out attacks on Pakistan, on Afghanistan or the United States or the rest of the world," he said.
"There is a lot at stake here and we have made that point repeatedly," Negroponte said.
Citing a previously failed deal with militants in the FATA region, he said: "We have some scepticism about their ability to enforce any such arrangement."
Negroponte's concerns came despite an assurance by Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani, after talks with US President George W. Bush in Egypt at the weekend, that his government would not negotiate with militants unless they laid down their arms.
The Bush administration has warned that Al-Qaeda was rebuilding itself in Pakistan's FATA and North West Frontier Province, both on the border with Afghanistan.
Negroponte, a former US intelligence czar, also said that tripartite border coordination arrangements had been established to closely coordinate counter-terrorism operations among the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This three-way border coordination nexus "can focus exclusively on these common border issues between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.
He said there was also an effort underway under the auspices of the US National Security Council "to look at the border region in its entirety" as part of the counter terrorism drive.
"The aim of course is to try and find ways to deal most effectively and support our friends in dealing as effectively as possible with this terrorist threat," he told reporters, without elaborating.
- AFP /ls
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