US to Pakistan, Do Not Talk to Taliban

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, warned that the new government in Pakistan should avoid negotiating with the taliban. He also said that was tried before and didn't work out very well.

I doubt Gates has much influence among Pakistani politicians. Especially when Zardari, the leader of the PPP, thinks that it is the US's war and not Pakistan's war. Then you have Sharif, the leader of the second largest party PML, who has ties to Bin Laden.

The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that any new government in Pakistan should be wary of holding talks with pro-Taleban insurgents.

Mr Gates told the BBC the previous administration's efforts to negotiate with the militants had not worked out.

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The army has been locked in a faltering campaign against Islamist pro-Taleban militants based along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, particularly in the Waziristan region.

Mr Gates said a new government would have to face the reality that al-Qaeda militants and insurgents were operating along the frontier.

"Even the Musharraf government tried talking and doing deals in Waziristan. That didn't work out very well," he said.

"Maybe this new government in Pakistan will have to go through the same experience itself."

Opposition leaders have hinted they are willing to talk to the insurgents, with a view to drawing them into the political process.