http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/security_briefings/300408+ Comments for "Taliban leader pulls out of talks, Mamun Ahmed " en http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/security_briefings/300408+ <p> Baitullah Mahsud, an al-Qaida ally who leads the Taliban in Pakistan, pulled out of a peace deal with the government after it <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/722248B2-20BC-487B-887D-42A643E3DF56.htm">refused</a> to withdraw the army from tribal lands on the Afghan border. Tribal elders in Pakistan&#39;s South Waziristan region have been trying to broker the deal. Mehsud has been accused of masterminding a wave of suicide attacks that have rocked Pakistan since mid-2007, including one that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (though Mehsud has denied involvement) in December. The peace talks were aimed at making permanent a five-week lull in a wave of suicide attacks that has killed more than 1,000 people in Pakistan since the start of 2007. </p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/security_briefings/300408+" class="read-more" title="Read the rest of this posting.">Read the rest of this post...</a><p><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/security_briefings/300408+">read more</a></p> http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/security_briefings/300408+#comment Creative Commons normal Mamun Ahmed security briefing terrorism Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:37:50 +0100 mamunahmed 36373 at http://www.opendemocracy.net