WASHINGTON: In a major foreign policy shift, the Bush administration is ready to accept long-time pariah and militant group Hezbollah as a player in mainstream politics in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The story was swiftly disputed by the Bush administration, which said its policy was unchanged. Seen for decades by the United States as a terrorist group, Hezbollah this week sponsored one of the biggest pro-Syrian demonstrations ever seen in Lebanon.

US, European and United Nations officials told The New York Times the United States reluctantly recognized that besides having a militia and sponsoring attacks on Israelis, Hezbollah was a huge political force in Lebanon that could block Western efforts to get Syria to withdraw its troops.

“There is a realization by France and the United States that if you tackle Hezbollah now, you array the Shias against you. With elections coming in Lebanon, you don’t want the entire Shia community against you,” one diplomat told the paper.

A senior Bush administration official disputed the story, saying: “Our view on Hezbollah has not changed. It’s a terrorist group.”

“Obviously we’d like to see them disarmed as UN Security Council Resolution 1559 requires. Once disarmed they could undertake any political role in Lebanon that they can win democratically at the polls. This doesn’t constitute any change in the US position,” the official said.

During last month’s meeting with European Union leaders in Brussels, President George W. Bush said it is not in the interest of the United States or Europe for Iran to fund “terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which has the desire to stop the Middle East peace process from going forward.”

The Times said Hezbollah had also become a lower priority in UN negotiations to demand the disarmament of Hezbollah, adding that the United States agreed with France that the militant group was too important a force to antagonize.

One official told the Times the Bush administration had reluctantly decided to take this new approach. Like the Irish Republican Army, Hezbollah has military and political wings and France has argued the group ought to be encouraged to focus more on politics.—Reuters