NEW YORK: The United States is now relying on Pakistan to help broker a peace deal in Afghanistan with the Haqqani network that Washington accuses of mounting attacks on Americans, The New York Times reported Monday.
The revamped approach, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called 'Fight, Talk, Build' during a high-level United States delegation's visit to Kabul and Islamabad this month, combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that the ISI get them to the negotiating table, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Washington.
The strategy is emerging amid an increase in the pace of attacks against Americans in Kabul, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which the Haqqanis are suspected.
"It is the latest effort at brokering a deal with militants before the last of 33,000 American 'surge' troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan by September, and comes as early hopes in the White House about having the outlines of a deal in time for a multinational conference - December 5 in Bonn, Germany, have been all but abandoned," the dispatch said.
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, it said.
"The Pakistanis see the contradictions in the American approach," Shamila N. Chaudhary, a former top Obama White House aide on Pakistan and Afghanistan, was quoted as saying. "The big question for the administration is, What can the Pakistanis actually deliver? Pakistan is holding its cards very closely."
On Sunday, United States intelligence officials deepened an investigation into what role, if any, the Haqqani network played in the bombing in Kabul on Saturday. Several current and former American officials say the United States has tried this bomb-them-to-the-bargaining-table approach before.
In the 1990s, it helped drive Serbian leaders to peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, but it has resulted in little so far with the Afghan Taliban, the paper said. "I don't think anyone expects Secretary Clinton's visit to produce reconciliation," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer.
Senior Pakistani officials, according to the Times, say they are confused by a lack of clarity in the administration's long-term goals in Afghanistan, and are working with American officials to hammer out specific plans after Mrs. Clinton's visit.
As an incentive, the United States has offered Pakistan a prominent role in reconciliation talks. But American officials have warned that they will take unilateral action if negotiations fail. Several administration officials said they considered Mrs. Clinton's trip to Kabul and Islamabad, from October 19 to 21, a success largely because it had happened at all.
Mrs. Clinton's trip was intended to both re-establish ties and reiterate a strong message. She conveyed to Pakistan that the United States would act on its own, if necessary, to attack extremist groups.
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