Taliban truce concerns NATO

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — NATO led a growing chorus of international concern Tuesday by warning that a truce between the government of Pakistan and Taliban militants in a restive region near the Afghan border risks giving the extremists a “safe haven.”

A hard-line cleric sent to the battle-scarred Swat Valley to negotiate with the Taliban received a hero’s welcome there by crowds shouting “Long live Islam! Long live peace!”

The cleric, Sufi Muhammad, expressed hope the militants would give up their arms to honor the pact, which imposes Islamic law and suspends a military offensive in the former tourist haven and nearby areas.

NATO has 55,000 troops in Afghanistan, and many face attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida fighters believed to find refuge in pockets of Pakistan’s northwest.

In the last few months, Swat has largely fallen to militants who have beheaded opponents, burned scores of girls schools and banned many forms of entertainment. Gunbattles between security forces and militants have killed hundreds, while up to a third of the valley’s 1.5 million people have fled.

The truce “is certainly reason for concern,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels. “We should all be concerned by a situation in which extremists would have a safe haven. Without doubting the good faith of the Pakistani government, it is clear that the region is suffering very badly from extremists and we would not want it to get worse.”

Britain also weighed in with reservations.

“Previous peace deals have not provided a comprehensive and long-term solution to Swat’s problems,” the British High Commission in Islamabad said. “We need to be confident that they will end violence — not create space for further violence.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Japan that the agreement still needed to be “thoroughly understood.”

A senior U.S. Defense Department official, however, said “it is hard to view this as anything other than a negative development.” He requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of relations with Pakistan and because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

The provincial government in northwest Pakistan announced the deal Monday after it met with Islamists led by Muhammad, who has long demanded that Islamic law be followed in this corner of Pakistan.