The talk of a deal between members of the Haqqani network — one of the most dangerous Taleban factions — and the Turi tribe in the Kurram region is likely to raise concerns in the United States which has been demanding Pakistan get tough with the militants fighting Western forces across the border.

“We are holding talks to end violence and fighting in the region. People have become fed up with fighting,” Sajid Hussain, a member of parliament involved in the talks, told Reuters.

Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between the Turi tribe and their rivals backed by the Taleban in recent months.

The deal, which has not yet been finalized, could lead to the lifting of the siege of the Turi tribe and release of its members kidnapped by militants and their allies.

But tribal sources said the militants would likely demand the use of roads passing through their territory to the Afghan border though Hussain said Taleban had not yet made any such demand.

“Even if they do so, we will not accept it,” Hussain said.

Kurram is one of the seven Pashtun tribal regions in Pakistan on the Afghan border, an area widely considered the headquarters of Al-Qaeda militants and their allies from all over the world.

The region is a strategic prize for Pakistan, the militants and even the United States. It lies opposite Afghanistan’s Paktia, Nangarhar and Khost provinces and is next door to North Waziristan, the main base of the Haqqani network in Pakistan.

Its capital, Parachinar, is just over the mountains from Tora Bora, Afghanistan, which US and Afghan forces assaulted after the Sept. 11 attacks in pursuit of Osama Bin Laden.

But he has never been found and is believed to be hiding in the mountainous border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

NATO forces in Afghanistan launched a cross-border air raid in Kurram last month, killing two Pakistani soldiers after mistaking them as militants.

Most of the Pashtun who live on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border are Sunni Muslims. But Kurram and neighboring Orakzai region have a large number of Shiite Muslims. Turis are Shiites while the Taleban are Sunnis.

The Turi have blocked Taleban militants from crossing their territory, preventing the Haqqanis and other Taleban factions from having an easy ride to Kabul. In response, the Taleban have blockaded Turi territory for more than two years, effectively cutting them off from the rest of Pakistan and laying siege to their lands.