ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - A top Taliban leader in Pakistan with links to Al-Qaida has ordered a cease-fire as part of a deal being negotiated with the country's new government, according to Taliban and Pakistani officials.
Baitullah Mehsud, leader of one of Pakistan's largest extremist forces, issued a pamphlet directing his fighters to end attacks on security forces in the country's troubled tribal areas and North-West Frontier Province, according to a Mehsud spokesman.
Mehsud, who is accused of masterminding the plot to kill former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, ordered the halt to extremist activities as part of an agreement that calls for prisoner exchanges and a withdrawal of Pakistani troops from areas near the Afghan border.
"We have reached a final stage of an agreement with the Pakistani authorities for a peace deal," said Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban. However, Pakistani officials familiar with the terms of the deal said negotiations are continuing.
Omar said Pakistani security forces have begun to withdraw from the restive tribal areas of North and South Waziristan as part of the accord. But Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, denied that troops had left the region.
The move by Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, was received cautiously by U.S. officials in Islamabad and skepticism from the White House. Pakistan had previously brokered peace deals with extremists, but the agreements all collapsed. Critics say they allowed Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters to recruit and lead guerrilla operations across the Afghan border from safe havens in the remote tribal regions.
Omar vowed to continue fighting U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. "The presence of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is the mother of all ill and there will be no peace until their presence in the region has ended," he said.
WASHINGTON POST
