ISLAMABAD, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The Haqqani network, one of the most feared insurgent groups in Afghanistan, would take part in peace talks with the Kabul government and the United States only if the Taliban did, its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani told Reuters today.
The group has become so confident after battlefield gains, that it no longer has sanctuaries in Pakistan, and instead felt secure inside Afghanistan, said Sirajuddin in a rare interview, by telephone from an undisclosed location.
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| Afghan children play as they sit in a truck tire in Kabul. Reuters |
The militant leader is described by U.S. forces in Afghanistan as one of their most lethal enemies. The United States has posted a bounty of up to $5 million for him.
The Haqqanis rejected several peace gestures from the United States and President Hamid Karzai's government in the past because they were an attempt to “create divisions” between militant groups, he said.
Any further efforts to do so would fail, added Sirajuddin. “They offered us very very important positions but we rejected and told them they would not succeed in their nefarious designs. They wanted to divide us,” said Sirajuddin.
“We would support whatever solution our Shura members suggest for the future of Afghanistan,” he said, referring to the Afghan Taliban leadership.
Washington has repeatedly pressed Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network it believes is based in the unruly North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.
“Gone are the days when we were hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Now we consider ourselves more secure in Afghanistan besides the Afghan people. Senior military and police officials are with us,” said Sirajuddin, believed to be in his late 30s.
“There are sincere people in the Afghan government who are loyal to the Taliban as they know our goal is the liberation of our homeland from the clutches of occupying forces.”
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Pakistan on Wednesday the United States would “do everything we can” to defend U.S. forces from Pakistan-based militants staging attacks in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials suspect militants from the Haqqani network were behind Tuesday's rocket attack on the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul , as well as a recent truck bomb that wounded 77 members of the American forces.
The Haqqani network is perhaps the most divisive issue between allies Pakistan and the United States, whose ties have been heavily strained by the unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town in May.
Pakistan's Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, has long been suspected of maintaining ties with the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Sirajuddin's father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was a notorious battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies allegations it has ties to the Haqqanis.
If it is confirmed that the Haqqanis have left North Waziristan, American pressure on Pakistan to eliminate the group may ease. |
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