It's insane to dream Pak govt. acting against 'Army brainchild' Taliban: ANP

Washington, July 28 (ANI): A leader of Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) has said the Taliban is a 'brainchild' of the military and the latter cannot be expected to crush the banned outfit completely.

"It's an insane dream to expect anything different from the Pakistani government. The Taliban are the brainchildren of the Pakistan army for the last 30 years. They are their own people. Could you kill your own brother?" said Awami National Party (ANP) leader Ali Wazir.

While refugees have started returning to their home in the Swat Valley, US officials are concerned that the Pakistani military might not stay in the region long enough to ensure their safety, The Washington Post reports.

They said it would be a calamity if the security forces failed to hold on in Swat and allowed the Taliban to regroup.

"Failing to hold in Swat would be a calamity. I hope they're thinking about it in terms of a plan and not on a timetable," a US official said.

On the other hand Pakistani diplomats feel that US officials are dissatisfied with the level of coordination involved in providing money and services to the returning refugees.

"In their heart of hearts, I think they feel that Pakistan will mess up the repatriation.They feel probably they'll go overboard, they won't resettle them, and you'll have a potential quicksand where you'll breed another strand of terrorist resistance," a top Pakistani diplomat said on conditions of anonymity.

However, Islamabad maintains that its prime objective is to settle the refugees first and then open a new front against the Taliban, thus clearly denying launching an offensive against the Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

"We would not like to do anything haphazardly. If you open so many fronts at the same time, then the danger is you will not achieve success on any front. So we would like to move with utmost circumspection," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said. (ANI)