Developments in Tribal Areas Under Intense Scrutiny

US concerned over ‘extremist safe havens’ in Pakistan
State Department says it’s too early to say whether Pakistan’s peace deal in Waziristan succeeding
By Khalid Hasan
Daily Times, December 13, 2006

WASHINGTON: The US said on Monday that it was concerned over “safe havens” being established by Islamic militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, and acknowledged the situation on the Pak-Afghan border was a “mess”.

“Clearly, you still do have cross-border infiltration, and I know that that is a concern for the Pakistanis and the Afghans, but having safe havens and areas where these extremists can operate from is a real concern for us,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Asked to acknowledge the characterisation that this situation was a “mess”, McCormack said, “It is ... and the key is cooperative working relationships among the Afghans, the Pakistanis and coalition forces,” reported SANA news agency. The concerns stemmed from reports on Monday that Pakistan’s peace deals with militants in tribal areas were helping “fuel” a Taliban resurgence. The Pakistani government signed peace deals in North Waziristan in September 2006 and South Waziristan in April 2004. The militants are consolidating their hold in the tribal areas, reported the New York Times. Their new strength has led to “virtually a Taliban mini-state”, said the report.

He said “it was too early” to tell if the policy adopted by Pakistan in the tribal areas by signing the peace accords was working or not. Replying to a question based on the New York Times report, McCormack said, “Well, first of all, it’s a Pakistani programme, so you can talk to the Pakistani government about whether or not they feel they’ve met their targets. I do know it’s relatively new, so they’re still working through it. When it first came out, it certainly seemed like a workable model, but as with most things, the true effectiveness of it comes down to its implementation.” He said everybody was aware of the problem of ceding territory to extremists and terrorists, and the Pakistani authorities did not want to do that, which was why they came up with this programme.