Peshawar, Apr 1: The recent statements made by the Taliban and the US are a cause of concern and might pose problems for the new governments in Islamabad and Peshawar, say security analysts in Pakistan.

On Sunday, US intelligence agency the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had said that Al Qaeda was “recruiting” and “training” fighters with a Western appearance to try to bypass security checks. It also reiterated its claims that Osama Bin Laden was hiding somewhere along the Pak-Afghan border.

Similarly, local Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said that his group would stop activities inside Pakistan, but would continue their operations against US-led forces in Afghanistan.

CIA chief Michael Hayden also said that the US “has an interest in targeting the border region” between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he claimed Al Qaeda was plotting attacks on the West.

Reacting to the above statements by the two sides, Mehmood Shah, former security chief for the Tribal Areas, said: “I think the statements of the CIA chief in Washington and of Maulvi Faqir Muhammad in Bajaur do not bode well for the future of talks between the Taliban and the new governments in Islamabad and Peshawar.”

“The US has shown a lack of patience for negotiated settlement and also lobbed a veiled threat that it will not wait very long if militants continue to attack American interests in Afghanistan,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

Similarly, Azmat Hayat Khan, senior researcher and head of the Area Study Centre at the University of Peshawar, said that it would be hard for the government of the Awami National Party (ANP) in NWFP to accept the local Taliban’s continuance of attacks in Afghanistan even if they stopped such activities inside Pakistan. “In the first place, it will not be acceptable for (pro-Kabul) ANP to negotiate with someone who refused to abandon an armed struggle on the other side of the border,” he said, adding, “even if the ANP accepts the Taliban’s jihad against the US in Afghanistan, the US will not accept any such negotiated settlement.”

Khan said that such a situation would place any government-initiated talks “in jeopardy”. He warned that this would necessitate a return to the use of force to combat extremism. (ANI)