[Peace-discuss] Admin. worried peace may break out

[C. G. Estabrook]

    US Irked as Pakistan Stalls South Waziristan Offensive
    Officials 'Alarmed' by Reports Govt May Seek Peace Deal With Some Factions
    by Jason Ditz, August 28, 2009

The apparent killing of Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud 
earlier this month in a US drone attack has left the group seeking to stabilize 
its new leadership and the Pakistani government wondering if perhaps its massive 
military offensive in South Waziristan, promised for months, might not be 
necessary after all.

The prospect has irked the US government, which has been pushing Pakistan to 
expand its offensive in Waziristan in tandem with their assorted military 
offensives in Southern Afghanistan. At the same time, Pakistani officials are 
considering making deals with parts of the TTP in an attempt to split the 
organization, which is “alarming” US officials.

The US has a long history of public opposition to Pakistan making peace deals 
with the assorted militant factions in its restive hinterlands. Most recently 
they came out angrily against the Swat Valley peace deal, and praised the 
Pakistani military when the deal broke down and an offensive drove millions of 
civilians from their homes.

At the same time the fact that the US is hoping to use a similar strategy of 
reconciliation with some factions in the Afghan Taliban can’t be lost on the 
Pakistani government, and will likely ensure that they take the complaints with 
a grain of salt. The Zardari government has been hawkish of late, promising 
massive offensives against the TTP, but the prospect of averting a full scale 
war across the increasingly unstable will likely be too tantalizing to reject 
out of hand.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/08/28/us-irked-as-pakistan-stalls-south-waziristan-offensive/