Swat treaty not an encouraging sign: Holbrooke

Swat treaty not an encouraging sign: Holbrooke 

Thursday, 19 Feb, 2009 | 07:22 PM PST | 
 
 
Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke. -File Photo 

Washington: Troubled over Pakistan government's concession to the Taliban in the Swat Valley, a top Obama administration official has said the US would not like 'bad guys' to get hold of any territory in the country.

'We are troubled and confused in the sense about what happened in Swat, because it is not an encouraging trend,' Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan told the PBS news channel in an interview.

Having just returned from South Asia wherein he met leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, Holbrooke said the Pakistanis are shocked at the fall of the picturesque Swat, which is after all a resort they all went to for vacations.

'So we have a situation in the area which is very serious. This is what we inherited,' he said.

This is for the first time that an administration official has spoken clearly against the peace deal between the Taliban and the Pakistan government.

'Previous ceasefires have broken down and we do not want to see territory ceded to the bad guys. The people who took over Swat are very bad people,' Holbrooke said.

The issue, he said, will be pursued during the next week's visit of a Pakistani delegation headed by Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton had earlier said that Islamabad's efforts still needed to be 'thoroughly understood' before making any comments. 

Observing that the attack on Mumbai was conducted by 'very shrewd and ruthless murderers', Holbrooke said: 'Terrorists who launched that attack tried to upset the improving relationship between Pakistan and India.' New Delhi did not play in their hands.

'The Indians restraint themselves and the Pakistanis did not move their troops to the border. We have got to understand that to get the Pakistanis focus on the West we have to have the reduction of tension between India and Pakistan,' he said.

Referring to his visit to New Delhi last week, Holbrooke said he had very excellent consultations with Indian leaders and officials. 

He said Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, along with the US, share a common threat from terrorists, who are 'located in the same area and come from the same routes'.

'People who did 9/11 in the US, the people who attacked Mumbai and the people who seized Swat all come from the same routes and all are located in the same area,' he said.