Taliban activity up on Pakistan border: US report

WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Taliban activities along the Afghan-Pakistan border region have increased in the two months since Islamabad struck a controversial deal with militants, suggesting the problem remains unresolved, according to a congressional report.

U S officials, while skeptical, took a wait-and-see attitude after President Pervez Musharraf's government on September 5 signed a truce with pro-Taliban militants that was aimed at ensuring a permanent peace in North Waziristan. Critics feared the pact would give the Taliban a sanctuary in the rugged region.

''Seven weeks after the deal was struck, the rate of Taliban activities in neighboring Afghanistan appears much increased and some reports have the militants failing to uphold their commitments,'' said the report which was released yesterday by Alan Kronstadt, an Asian specialist at the Congressional Research Service, which does research for the U S Congress.

''It is possible the 'Pakistani Taliban' in North Waziristan is seeking to establish a local administrative infrastructure much as was done in South Waziristan following a similar truce there in April 2004,'' the report said.

Under the deal, the Taliban vowed to distance themselves from foreign militants and to end the cross-border movement of militants into Afghanistan.

Pakistani government forces, meanwhile, agreed to refrain from further military operations in the area and to withdraw from numerous checkpoints.

Islamabad argued that the deal would marginalize militant forces while not impairing the government's efforts to pursue al Qaeda, which is said to also operate along the border.

Reuters