March 28, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

BAJAUR, March 27: Appreciating Asfandyar Wali Khan for his refusal to meet the visiting US officials, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan on Thursday offered full cooperation to the newly-elected government in improving the law and order situation in the country.

Speaking from an undisclosed location by telephone, Maulvi Mohammad Omar, the spokesmen for local Taliban, said that those people who were meeting the US officials would be considered as American agents.

He said that the refusal of ANP chief to meet US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Wednesday reflected true wishes of the brave Pakhtun nation. “The stand taken by the ANP president proved that the party wanted peace in the region,” he said.

Asfandyar Wali Khan refused to meet the envoy at the US Consulate Peshawar and instead insisted for a meeting at the Shahi Mehman Khana on Wednesday.

Maulvi Omar said that the offer of talks with the Taliban by the nationalist party was highly encouraging. Everlasting peace can be established through talks with the ANP, he added.

The spokesman condemned tribal elders of Khyber Agency for holding meeting with the American diplomats and warned them to refrain from doing so in future.

The Taliban, he said, would take them as US agents and would swing into action against those repeating the mistake of meeting the American dignitaries.

He asked the US diplomats to desist from their agenda of petting the tribesmen against each other. The US and its allies must leave Afghanistan, if they really wanted to see peace and tranquility in the area, he added.