Pakistan says it can bring Haqqani to peace talks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Pakistan's military says it can bring the notorious Haqqani militant network, considered one of the most lethal threats against U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, to the negotiation table.

Instead, Washington is pushing Pakistan to carry out military assaults against Haqqani hideouts in the tribal regions.

The network is affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida and blamed for most of the major attacks in Afghanistan, particularly the often brazen assaults on the capital Kabul. It has been described as the glue that binds together the militant groups operating in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan.

"The Haqqani network has been more important to the development and sustainment of al-Qaida and the global jihad than any other single actor or group," a study released earlier this month by West Point's Combatting Terrorism Center said.

A senior Pakistani military officer now says that Pakistan can deliver the Haqqani network to the negotiation table. Pakistan has kept open communication lines with Jalaluddin Haqqani, the elderly leader of the al-Qaida aligned network. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The officer denied U.S. and Afghan allegations that Islamabad is aiding and arming the network.

But delivering the Haqqanis would guarantee the Pakistanis a major role in negotiations to end the war and shore up their influence in Afghanistan after the Americans have gone.

Pakistan's offer to bring the recalcitrant Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin, the network's military chief, to the peace table comes amid accelerated efforts to find a negotiated end to the protracted Afghan war ahead of the 2014 U.S. military pullout.

But Washington wants Pakistan to go after the Haqqanis because they are threatening coalition forces in Afghanistan.

During a visit to Afghanistan earlier this month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen bristled at Pakistan's reluctance to clear out safe havens on its territory.

"There has been frustration with the speed with which that (safe havens) has been addressed ... because in particular, the Haqqani network, which continues to be central to this, not exclusive, but central, in feeding this fight in Afghanistan," he said. "At some point that has got to stop. We continue to engage on that, to bring pressure on that, but I would be hard pressed to be able to tell you time and place when it is going to happen, but it needs to happen."

The senior Pakistani officer said a military assault on Haqqani hideouts would quickly engulf the entire tribal region in a war that the Pakistan army can't win.

For years, the dilemma of how to deal with the Haqqani network has bedeviled Pakistan's relationship with both the United States and Afghanistan.

Pakistan sees the Haqqanis as allies in a postwar Afghanistan. Deep links were found by the West Point study between the Haqqani network and Pakistan's intelligence agency, known as ISI