PESHAWAR, Nov 4: Just how much of a change would Gen David Petraeus bring in the US-led military approach to rein in the growing insurgency in Afghanistan, and, by extension, to the increasingly lawless Pakistani tribal regions?

Senior Pakistani officials, who met the newly appointed Centcom chief during his two-day very hectic visit to Islamabad and Peshawar, say they have found in him not only a good listener but also someone who is trying to understand the intricacies and complexities of the situation.

While in Islamabad, where the Central Command chief met President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Pakistani leadership hammered away at the increase in drone attacks — at least 17 since Sept 1 — in the tribal region.

In Peshawar, a slightly different piece of advice was awaiting Gen Petraeus. Here he had a rather exasperatingly busy schedule — a two-hour meeting with NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, a 30-minute call on Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and an extensive security briefing by Corps Commander Lt-Gen Masood Aslam and Frontier Corps Inspector-General Maj-Gan Tariq Khan.

A political approach, and not an over-emphasis on the military, would help the US wriggle out of an exceedingly difficult situation in Afghanistan, he was told. Officials privy to the meetings said they expected the man widely credited with turning the tide in Iraq to bring some sanity to the US military approach in Afghanistan too.

“He is very intelligent and very confident,” said an official. “My assessment of him is that he believes in reconciliation with those who can be reconciled and won over and attacking those who cannot be reconciled.

“He is someone who would use all resources, including money, as a weapon to achieve his objectives. He has done it in Iraq and he will like to achieve the goal in Afghanistan.”

The official said Gen Petraeus believed that talks could prove helpful only when they were held from a position of strength. For that, added the official, the Americans would go for a surge in troops in Afghanistan to achieve their military goals before they sat down for negotiations with some of the reconcilable adversaries.

According to the official, the US commander did not say who amongst the Taliban, he thought, were reconcilable. But he did mention Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani and his network as ones he thought were too dangerous to talk to.

“He thought that Jalaluddin Haqqani was among the dangerous lot, being responsible for training and sending suicide bombers, and most of the violence in south-eastern Afghanistan,” the official said.

“But we told him that there is an over-emphasis on military approach, which is not good. And we told him that by firing missiles from Predators the Americans are creating more problems for us,” the official said.

He said that the Centcom chief defended Predator attacks.

“We are helping you also by hitting your bad guys. Besides, collateral damage in such strikes is minimal,” the official quoted Gen Petraeus as saying.

While the Pakistanis continue to grumble about US reluctance to hit what Pakistan believes are its bad guys, the Americans appear to have their own definition of who they consider legitimate targets for them.

“Haqqanis are for us what Baitullahs are for you,” an official quoted the US general as saying.

“My assessment is that the Americans are only interested in those who are involved in cross-border activities in Afghanistan. They are not interested in our bad guys, those who are involved inside Pakistan,” the official said.

“All that he said was a word of assurance to step up cooperation not only between Pakistan and the United States but also between Islamabad and Kabul.”

Chief Minister Hoti told Dawn that he had also driven home the point that the use of force alone could not resolve any issue.

“There has to be a political approach coupled with socio-economic development and reconstruction and rehabilitation in areas ravaged by the insurgency and the resultant military operation,” he said. “Use of force should be the last option,” he told Gen Petraeus.

The Centcom chief, who was given an extensive briefing on the operation in Bajaur Agency, was later given an aerial view of the tribal border region. He was accompanied by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and Ambassador Ann Patterson.

In the evening he left for Kabul.