President Zardari open to Taliban talks

[Maroof Hussain Chishty]

President Zardari open to Taliban talks

Friday, 06 Aug, 2010

Zardari said his country had never closed the door to talks with the Taliban. — AP Photo

LONDON: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday he is willing to consider negotiations with the Taliban in his country a statement that came amid accusations he has failed to do enough to tackle terrorism.
Zardari told The Associated Press that his country had never closed the door to talks with the Taliban.



“We never closed the dialogue,” Zardari told the AP, skirting the question of when talks could resume. “We had an agreement, which they broke. Talks will resume whenever they feel we’re strong enough and they can't win, because they won’t win.”



Last year, the government struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley that gave them effective control over the region. The militants did not abide by the agreement and moved into another region, prompting an all-out offensive by the Pakistani army.


Still, some politicians and their supporters support the idea of talking with the Taliban. They typically share the aims of the movement in wanting an Islamist state free from US influence.



The United States and Pakistan’s other Western allies have been urging the country to continue fighting the Pakistani Taliban, not talk to them. The movement has been behind dozens of bloody attacks inside Pakistan that have killed thousands over the last three years. What the West wants is for Pakistan to expand and go after other groups.



The group, which is loosely based in the tribal regions close to the Afghan border, was involved in the failed Times Square car bombing and the suicide attack on a CIA base in December in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees. It has links with al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban fighting across the border in Afghanistan.



Over the last four years, Pakistan has tried negotiating with militant groups operating in the northwest. But the truces have quickly broken down and typically allowed them to regroup and emerge stronger.