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Friday February 20, 10:58 AM
US voices 'concern' over Pakistan's deal on Sharia law
WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The United States expressed concern to Pakistan's President Ali Zardari that a deal allowing Sharia law in the volatile Swat valley amounted to a possible capitulation to Taliban militants. US envoy Richard Holbrooke told CNN in an interview on Thursday afternoon that he had spoken with Zardari by phone just hours earlier and expressed his "concern." "It is hard to understand this deal in Swat," in the country's northwest, said Holbrooke, who returned this week from a regional tour that included visits to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. The agreement this week in Pakistan's Malakand area, which includes the Swat valley, has been widely seen as a government concession to Taliban Islamic militants to secure a ceasefire. "I am concerned, and I know Secretary (Hillary) Clinton is, and the president is, that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce, does not turn into a surrender," Holbrooke said. "President Zardari has assured us it is not the case." The Pakistan president has described the deal as "an interim arrangement," said the US diplomat. "He does not disagree that people who are running Swat now are murderers, thugs and militants and they pose a danger not only to Pakistan but to the US as well." Last year, Pakistani forces launched an offensive to recapture the Swat valley from Taliban forces but the area remains restive. Pakistan has hailed the agreement as the best way to defuse a bloody insurgency in the violence-wracked northwest, but Islamist hardliners have yet to disarm and it has provoked alarm in NATO as well as in neighbouring Afghanistan and India. Islamists have vowed to put down their guns once Islamic justice is established. Monday's deal followed talks between ministers in the troubled North West Frontier Province and a local leader, Soofi Mohammad. The pro-Taliban cleric was jailed in Pakistan for six years after returning from Afghanistan where he led thousands of supporters to fight against US-led forces that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001. Along with the Kabul government, Pakistan was sending a high-level delegation to Washington next week -- including its foreign minister and the head of the country's intelligence service -- to join US officials in a strategic review of the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said. "And I can assure you, and President Zardari knows this, that this will be the top initial subject of conversation," he said. Holbrooke, who masterminded a peace deal in the Balkans in 1995, was appointed to shape a new US strategy in South Asia under President Barack Obama. Washington views extremists in northwest Pakistan a direct threat to Islamabad, its neighbour Afghanistan, the United States and other powers. Holbrooke said that prevailing in the war in Afghanistan would require countering insurgents in neighboring Pakistan who operate outside the reach of the Islamabad government. "We've got to deal with Pakistan. We have to stem the deterioration in the tribal areas," he said. Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since becoming a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Asked about the risk of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of extremists, Holbrooke said it was "a legitimate concern." He said the new US administration had only taken office last month but had been briefed about the issue by intelligence agencies. "We have been assured by the American intelligence community that this arsenal is under the control of the Pakistan military. But it's an issue of high concern and it can't be ignored."
US voices 'concern' over Pakistan's deal on Sharia law
WASHINGTON, (AFP) - The United States expressed concern to Pakistan's President Ali Zardari that a deal allowing Sharia law in the volatile Swat valley amounted to a possible capitulation to Taliban militants. US envoy Richard Holbrooke told CNN in an interview on Thursday afternoon that he had spoken with Zardari by phone just hours earlier and expressed his "concern." "It is hard to understand this deal in Swat," in the country's northwest, said Holbrooke, who returned this week from a regional tour that included visits to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. The agreement this week in Pakistan's Malakand area, which includes the Swat valley, has been widely seen as a government concession to Taliban Islamic militants to secure a ceasefire. "I am concerned, and I know Secretary (Hillary) Clinton is, and the president is, that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce, does not turn into a surrender," Holbrooke said. "President Zardari has assured us it is not the case." The Pakistan president has described the deal as "an interim arrangement," said the US diplomat. "He does not disagree that people who are running Swat now are murderers, thugs and militants and they pose a danger not only to Pakistan but to the US as well." Last year, Pakistani forces launched an offensive to recapture the Swat valley from Taliban forces but the area remains restive. Pakistan has hailed the agreement as the best way to defuse a bloody insurgency in the violence-wracked northwest, but Islamist hardliners have yet to disarm and it has provoked alarm in NATO as well as in neighbouring Afghanistan and India. Islamists have vowed to put down their guns once Islamic justice is established. Monday's deal followed talks between ministers in the troubled North West Frontier Province and a local leader, Soofi Mohammad. The pro-Taliban cleric was jailed in Pakistan for six years after returning from Afghanistan where he led thousands of supporters to fight against US-led forces that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001. Along with the Kabul government, Pakistan was sending a high-level delegation to Washington next week -- including its foreign minister and the head of the country's intelligence service -- to join US officials in a strategic review of the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said. "And I can assure you, and President Zardari knows this, that this will be the top initial subject of conversation," he said. Holbrooke, who masterminded a peace deal in the Balkans in 1995, was appointed to shape a new US strategy in South Asia under President Barack Obama. Washington views extremists in northwest Pakistan a direct threat to Islamabad, its neighbour Afghanistan, the United States and other powers. Holbrooke said that prevailing in the war in Afghanistan would require countering insurgents in neighboring Pakistan who operate outside the reach of the Islamabad government. "We've got to deal with Pakistan. We have to stem the deterioration in the tribal areas," he said. Pakistan's rugged tribal regions have been wracked by violence since becoming a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Asked about the risk of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of extremists, Holbrooke said it was "a legitimate concern." He said the new US administration had only taken office last month but had been briefed about the issue by intelligence agencies. "We have been assured by the American intelligence community that this arsenal is under the control of the Pakistan military. But it's an issue of high concern and it can't be ignored."
