ISLAMABAD: The top leadership of Afghan Taliban is hiding in Pakistan and controlling the covert war against US-led forces in Afghanistan, Washington’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said on Tuesday.
“The Taliban leadership is in Pakistan and the Taliban militants are fighting in Afghanistan,” said Holbrooke, accompanied by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.
Talking to reporters, he said the US knew from various sources that the Taliban shura was hiding in Balochistan and that had serious implications for the new US strategy for the region. He said the issue had been discussed with the Pakistani leadership.
Direct threat: To a question, Admiral Mullen said Baitullah Mehsud was a direct threat to the US and his men were crossing into Afghanistan to fight against the NATO and ISAF forces.
Both Mullen and Holbrooke denied that the US was part of a campaign to malign Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the ISI. Mullen insisted that the ISI, Pakistan Army and the US army should cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
Ambassador Holbrooke said majority of Pakistanis had realised after the recent acts of terrorism in Swat and Lahore that the war on terror was not simply an ‘American war’ but that terrorism posed a direct threat to them as well.
“There is a change in the perception of people in Pakistan about the war on terror, and it will push Pakistan and the US to work more closely in this fight,” the US special representative said.
He said Pakistan and Afghanistan should improve cooperation in intelligence sharing. “There is a legacy of distrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan and we are trying to encourage them to increase cooperation,” he said.
Holbrooke said more than half of the men fighting in the Tribal Areas and Afghanistan were not ideologically motivated. He also acknowledged a lack of a systematic study about Taliban, saying most of the information was based on media reports.
Indo-Pak relations: To a question about Pakistan-India relations, Holbrooke said Washington “cannot negotiate between the two countries”, adding that the two countries should normalise mutual ties.
He termed last year’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai ‘strategic terrorism’ and said the terrorists tried to ignite a war between Pakistan and India but failed. He declined to respond to a question about Kashmir.
Admiral Mullen said Pakistan had majority of its forces on its eastern border and the Pakistan army chief had been relocating them to the western side, but the process had been stalled after the Mumbai attack.
Mullen said Pakistan Army was a traditional force that lacked specialised training to fight against terrorists. He said the US army was also a traditional force but it had learnt while fighting insurgents in Iraq. He offered to share the Iraq experience with Pakistan to make their fight effective.
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