Zardari resists US timeline for fighting militants in tribal areas

The message was reinforced on Monday by Pakistan’s Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kiyani who told Gen David H Petraeus,the head of the US Central Command,that the US should not expect “a major operation in North Waziristan” in the coming months,according to a senior US defence official. North Waziristan is a sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban.

The long-term success of Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy depends on Pakistan moving forcefully against Taliban havens in the FATA and Balochistan.

In return,the US wants Pakistan to “move on our mutual interests,which includes the Haqqani network and includes the Taliban in Pakistan”,Vice-President Joseph Biden said on Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

The Pakistani military has been reluctant to shift its focus away from what it sees as an ongoing threat from India toward increased counter-insurgency against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Closer Indian-US ties and the expansion of India’s conventional capabilities have increased suspicion of US aims.

Zardari did not mention India by name in his three-page letter to Obama,which sources reviewed for The Washington Post on the condition that no direct quotes be used. But he made repeated reference to Pakistan’s core interests,unresolved historical conflicts and conventional imbalances.