Washington: Shortly after accusing Pakistan’s premier spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate of supporting the Haqqani network, a strong faction of Afghan Taliban, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence agency to help organise reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, an American newspaper reported on Monday.
The newspaper said some elements of the ISI see little advantage in forcing those negotiations.
The paper said the revamped approach is emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul in which the Haqqanis are allegedly suspected.
According to the newspaper, the latest effort comes as early hopes in the White House about having the outlines of a deal in time for a multinational conference Dec. 5 in Bonn, Germany, have been all but abandoned.
But even inside the Obama administration, the new initiative has been met with deep skepticism, in part because the Pakistani government has developed its own strategy, one at odds with Mrs. Clinton’s on several key points. One senior American official summarized the Pakistani position as “Cease-fire, Talk, Wait for the Americans to Leave.” the paper said.
In short, the United States is in the position of having to rely heavily on the ISI to help broker a deal with the same group of militants that leaders in Washington say the spy agency is financing and supporting.
“The Pakistanis see the contradictions in the American approach,” said Shamila N. Chaudhary, a former top Obama White House aide on Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The big question for the administration is, what can the Pakistanis actually deliver? Pakistan is holding its cards very closely.”
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