“The attack that took place in Kabul a few days ago, that was the work of the Haqqani network,” the US ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, told Radio Pakistan in comments aired on Saturday. “There is evidence linking the Haqqani Network to the Pakistan government. This is something that must stop.”
Insurgents in a bomb-laden truck occupied a building in Kabul on Tuesday, raining rockets and gunfire on the US Embassy and other targets in the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital, and battled police during a 20 hour siege.
Five Afghan police and 11 civilians were killed in the multi-pronged attacks, which also included three suicide bombings at police compounds.
Munter suggested ties with Pakistan, which relies heavily on billions of dollars of US aid, were still heavily strained, despite recent comments from both sides on strong counter-terrorism cooperation. “These relations today need a lot of work,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Haqqani network said it would take part in peace talks with the Kabul government and the United States only if the Taleban did. The group’s leader Sirajuddin Haqqani said on Saturday the Haqqanis are also consolidating their hold on eastern Afghanistan, forcing rival insurgent groups out of territory they have claimed.
The militant 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 Karzai’s government in the past because they were an attempt to “create divisions” between militant 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 Shoura members suggest for the future of Afghanistan,” he said, referring to the Afghan Taleban leadership.
Pakistani 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 Taleban’,” he said.
Despite hopes that talks with the Taleban 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 Pakistan to go after the Haqqani network it believes is based in the unruly North Waziristan ethnic Pashtun tribal region near the Afghan border.
“Gone are the days when we were hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-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 Taleban as they know our goal is the liberation of our homeland from the clutches of occupying forces.”
Asked whether there are 10,000 Haqqani fighters as some media reports have suggested, Sirajuddin laughed and said: “That figure is actually less than the actual number.”
