After terror jibe, US seeks ISI help for peace talks
Eric Schmitt and David E Sanger,
PTI | Nov 1, 2011, 06.20AM IST
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WASHINGTON : Just a month after accusing Pakistan's spy agency of secretly supporting the Haqqani terrorist network, which has mounted attacks on Americans, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence service to help organize and kick-start reconciliation talks aimed at ending war in Afghanistan.
The revamped approach, which secretary of stateHillary Rodham Clinton called "Fight, Talk, Build" during a high-level United Statesdelegation's visit to Kabul and Islamabad this month, combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistan's ISI agency get them to the negotiating table.
But some elements of the ISI see little advantage in forcing those negotiations, because they see the insurgents as perhaps their best bet for maintaining influence in Afghanistan as the US reduces its presence there. The strategy is emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which Haqqanis are suspected. NYT NEWS SERVICE
Pakistan minister escapes bid on life
Aprovincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's Party escaped unhurt when Taliban fighters ambushed his vehicle in the country's restive northwest on Monday. Amjad Khan Afridi, the housing minister in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was travelling in his bulletproof car when militants fired at it in Kohat district.
=======================================================
WASHINGTON : Just a month after accusing Pakistan's spy agency of secretly supporting the Haqqani terrorist network, which has mounted attacks on Americans, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence service to help organize and kick-start reconciliation talks aimed at ending war in Afghanistan.
The revamped approach, which secretary of stateHillary Rodham Clinton called "Fight, Talk, Build" during a high-level United Statesdelegation's visit to Kabul and Islamabad this month, combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistan's ISI agency get them to the negotiating table.
But some elements of the ISI see little advantage in forcing those negotiations, because they see the insurgents as perhaps their best bet for maintaining influence in Afghanistan as the US reduces its presence there. The strategy is emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which Haqqanis are suspected. NYT NEWS SERVICE
Pakistan minister escapes bid on life
Aprovincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's Party escaped unhurt when Taliban fighters ambushed his vehicle in the country's restive northwest on Monday. Amjad Khan Afridi, the housing minister in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was travelling in his bulletproof car when militants fired at it in Kohat district.
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