WASHINGTON, Jan 18: US spy chief told Congress on Thursday that the Bush administration had discussed with Islamabad the problem of alleged Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan with ‘great, great regularity’.
In a testimony before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte also said that the North Waziristan agreement between Pakistan and tribal elders was another subject that “we discuss frequently in our dialogue with the government of Pakistan."
"It's one of these issues that are right on the front burner, as far as we're concerned, in terms of security preoccupations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” he added.
The problem of Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, he said, was an issue that US officials discuss with Pakistan with "great, great regularity, and more work needs to be done on that.”
Mr Negroponte offered to provide lawmakers more details about the administration’s discussions with Pakistan on these issues in a meeting closed to the public.
The testimony confirms the assumption that relations between Washington and Islamabad are not as smooth as they appear. Some analysts say that Washington has believed for a long time that the Taliban had established sanctuaries inside Pakistan but was reluctant to say so publicly.
The first public acknowledgement of these allegations came last week when Mr Negroponte and Lt-Gen Michael Maples, Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Pakistan’s tribal zone had become a safe haven for Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.
On Thursday, Mr Negroponte urged Pakistan to do more to destroy the sanctuaries if it wants to help Afghanistan stabilise.
“We all agree that the question of a sanctuary for the Taliban in Pakistan is problematic,” said Mr Negroponte, indicating that he was not alone in believing that the Taliban had a safe haven in Pakistan.
"There's recognition that unless and until something is done to more definitively address that question, it's always going to be more of a challenge to address the security problems that arise in Afghanistan," he said. "This is a problem that we're actively working (on)."
He then added, almost as an afterthought, that the United States had “no doubt whatsoever” about Pakistan’s commitment to the war on terror. Over the past several years, he said, Pakistan put a lot of Al Qaeda and foreign fighters out of commission.
During the hearing, a Republican lawmaker, Congressman Mike Rogers, described the North Waziristan deal as a ‘fundamental failure’ and a probable detriment to US security.
"It just didn't work," he said of the deal which led to a withdrawal of Pakistani troops from some sensitive areas. In return, tribal chiefs agreed to halt attacks on Pakistani troops and expel foreign fighters.
