A Successful Deal?

Al-Qaeda militant pledges to back Pakistan government
USA Today: May 17, 2007

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani militant leader suspected of ties with al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader promised on Thursday to renounce violence and cooperate with the government, a regional official said.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammed made the pledge to tribal elders who met with him on behalf of Pakistan's government in Bajur, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, said Bajur's top administrator, Shakil Qadir Khan.

The meeting was held in Damadola, the scene of a January 2006 U.S. missile strike that targeted but missed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and killed at least 13 villagers.

In the aftermath of the attack, the government said it was hunting for Mohammed, believing he had survived the assault and could provide clues about a dinner attended by senior al-Qaeda operatives before the missile strike. Al-Zawahri was reportedly invited, but had not attended. Al-Zawahri, like al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, remains at large, still suspected to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

In an attempt to stop attacks on its security forces, Pakistan, a key U.S. anti-terror ally, increasingly relies on tribesmen in the frontier region — rather than the army — to police the territory.

However, the tactic has faced criticism from the West that it could give militants a freer hand to use Pakistan's soil for attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

On Thursday, Mohammed promised that he will fully cooperate for "the Pakistan government's stability and the country's defense," and will not carry out terrorism inside the country, Khan said.

"He is now a peaceful citizen of the area. He has no restriction on him," Khan told reporters in Khar, the main town in Bajur. "We have no plans to arrest him."