Musharraf 'thumbed his nose at Washington and the NATO-led coalition fighting in Afghanistan'

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21460058-2703,00.html

New Musharraf deal with militants
Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent
March 28, 2007

PAKISTAN'S embattled President yesterday thumbed his nose at Washington and the NATO-led coalition fighting in Afghanistan, concluding a third "peace deal" with Taliban-supporting militants in a key border region.Pervez Musharraf's latest accord with the militants covers the tribal area of Bajaur where al-Qa'ida No2 Ayman al-Zawahiri is believed to have escaped a coalition airstrike last year. It is in the heartland of the zone where US special forces have been hunting a resurgent al-Qa'ida. Washington opposed the "peace deals" concluded by General Musharraf last year in North and South Waziristan. It claims they have led to a growth in the insurgency in the area, with Pakistani forces retreating and leaving the militants largely unchallenged.

But the latest deal covering the Bajaur Agency - one of seven tribal areas nominally administered by Islamabad - suggests General Musharraf is determined to persist with the policy.

He has repeatedly said that he believes negotiation is the only way to deal with the situation in the area.

<<snip>>

Government officials in Islamabad said they were heartened by the fighting because it indicated tribal militants were moving to expel al-Qa'ida from the area.

Washington and the coalition have been unimpressed by such arguments, pointing to increased infiltration by Taliban fighters across the border into Afghanistan as a result of the accords.

told the U.S. and or Bush to eff off over the last year. It's well into the dozens.

negotiation, what a concept!!

He has repeatedly said that he believes negotiation is the only way to deal with the situation in the area.

(S.A. and Pakistan)