The Haqqani network, one of the most feared jihad boy groups in Afghanistan, would take part in peace talks with the Kabul government and the United States only if the Taliban did, its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani told Rooters on Saturday.The Haqqanis technically fall under the command of the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad
BlinkyOmar, though US officials believe they can act independently.
The group has become so confident after battlefield gains, that it no longer has sanctuaries in Pakistain, and instead felt secure inside Afghanistan, said Sirajuddin in a rare interview, by telephone from
In what Sirajuddin described as a further sign of strength, the Haqqanis are also consolidating their hold on eastern Afghanistan, forcing rival jihad boy groups out of territory they have claimed.
The thug leader is described by US forces in Afghanistan as one of their most lethal enemies. The United States has posted a bounty of up to $5 million for him.
The Haqqanis rejected several peace gestures from the United States and President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's government in the past because they were an attempt to "create divisions" between thug groups, he said.
Any further efforts to do so would fail, added Sirajuddin.
"They offered us very very important positions but we rejected and told them they would not succeed in their nefarious designs. They wanted to divide us," said Sirajuddin.
"We would support whatever solution our shura members suggest for the future of Afghanistan," he said, referring to the Afghan Taliban leadership.
Pak security analyst Ejaz Haider described Sirajuddin's comments as a shift.
"Sirajuddin's statement now is significant as a signal to the United States. That 'we are prepared to talk if you want to talk seriously and as part of the larger dialogue with the Taliban'," he said.
Despite hopes that talks with the Taliban could provide the political underpinning for a US staged withdrawal from Afghanistan, the discussions are still not at the stage where they can be a deciding factor.
Months of talks between the two sides -- a crucial building block in any eventual political solution -- have yet to develop into serious negotiations.
Washington has repeatedly pressed Pakistain to go after the Haqqani network it believes is based in the unruly North
Wazoo ethnic Pashtun tribal region near the Afghan border."Gone are the days when we were hiding in the mountains along the Pakistain-Afghanistan border. Now we consider ourselves more secure in Afghanistan besides the Afghan people. Senior military and police officials are with us," said Sirajuddin, believed to be in his late 30s.
"There are sincere people in the Afghan government who are loyal to the Taliban as they know our goal is the liberation of our homeland from the clutches of occupying forces."