ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani military offensive against insurgent hideouts prompted suspension of controversial peace talks with the Taliban on Monday, and the country’s president sought additional foreign aid to assure that its nuclear arms remain in “safe hands.”
The developments came as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Afghanistan and Pakistan, calling their shared border region a “crucible of terrorism.”
Following the military push into Dir, a district on the Afghanistan border, the Taliban described its peace pact with the government as “worthless,” threatening a cease-fire that the Obama administration has criticized as a capitulation to allies of al-Qaeda.
Pakistan agreed in February to impose Islamic law in the Taliban-held Swat Valley and surrounding districts of the Malakand Division if militants ended a rebellion that included beheading opponents and burning schools for girls. However, the concession appeared to embolden the Taliban.
Pressure on the deal grew Sunday when authorities sent troops backed by artillery and helicopter gunships to attack militants in Lower Dir, another district covered by the pact. Thousands of terrified residents fled.
At least 46 militants were killed in the operation, the army said in a statement Monday. Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for the umbrella group of Pakistan’s Taliban, claimed insurgents were in the area and killed nine troops and lost two of their own.
“The agreements with the Pakistan government are worthless because Pakistani rulers are acting to please Americans,” said Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman in the Swat Valley.
He denounced the military’s operation as a violation of the peace pact and said fighters were on alert in case the agreement was pronounced dead by Sufi Muhammad, a hard-line cleric who mediated the deal.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari insisted Monday his country was doing what it must to root out domestic militants.
He also said Pakistani intelligence thought al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden might be dead but cautioned there was no proof.
“He may be dead, but that’s been said before,” Zardari said. “It’s still between fiction and fact.”
