Pakistani Taliban in talks with Islamabad

In news that gives hope to the end of a four-year insurgency while further straining US-Pakistan relations, the Pakistani Taliban announced they are in peace talks with the country's government. "Our talks are going in the right direction," said Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban in the Bajaur tribal agency and the number two commander overall. "If negotiations succeed and we are able to sign a peace agreement in Bajaur, then the government and the Taliban of other areas such as Swat, Mohmand, Orakzai and South Waziristan tribal region will sign an agreement. Bajaur will be a role model for other areas." At the end of September Pakistan's government pledged to hold peace talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The United States, which gives billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Pakistan, regards the TTP as a terrorist group. Mohammad claimed the government had realised there was no military solution to the conflict in Pakistan, and for the Taliban's part "we have no wish to fight against our own armed forces and destroy our own country". "There has been development in our peace talks but the government would have to show more flexibility in its stance and restore the trust of Taliban by releasing their prisoners and stop military operations against them." Mohammad said Pakistan had released 145 Taliban as a gesture of goodwill and the militants had pledged a ceasefire. He said Pakistan and Afghanistan should unite against what he called foreign occupation by non-Muslims. The TTP is allied with the Afghan Taliban movement fighting US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan's Taliban are entrenched in tribal areas along the border. After the military started operations against the TTP, it responded by pledging to overthrow the Pakistani government. Past peace pacts with the TTP have failed to bring stability and merely given the umbrella group time and space to consolidate, launch fresh attacks and impose their strict version of Islam in areas they control. Mohammad heads the TTP faction based in Bajaur, at the north-east end of the Pashtun belt along the border. He is regarded as being close to Al-Qaeda. His men focused on attacking into Afghanistan until US drones hunting for the al-Qaida deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, began strikes in his area in early 2006. Mohammad is believed to have been behind several attacks on Pakistani security forces. The army launched an offensive in Bajaur in August 2008 and largely cleared the region after months of fighting.