Musharraf Rejects US Afghan Demands

"Keeping in view the current situation in the region, Pakistan will neither abandon the peace agreement with the tribesmen nor will it withdraw the plan of fencing Pak-Afghan border," Musharraf was quoted as telling visiting US Defense Secretary of State Robert Gates, who left Islamabad Monday, February12 .

During his one-day visit, Gates failed to persuade Musharraf to abandon the Waziristan Agreement with local Taliban tribes in the Northern Province which borders with Afghanistan, the sources, which requested anonymity, said.

Musharraf told Gates that the agreement is in the better interest of Islamabad, rejecting reports that armed resistance and infiltration into Afghanistan has increased after the peace agreement.

The Pakistani leader said controlling infiltration on Pak-Afghan borders is not the sole responsibility of Pakistan

"Taliban is the problem of Afghanistan, and so is Al-Qaeda," Musharraf told Gates during their meeting in the presidential compound in Rawalpindi.

"The Afghan government must control the affairs on its side."

Musharraf also bluntly refused to overrule his plan to fence parts of Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan, a measures highly opposed by the US-backed Afghan government.

However, the Pakistani president agreed to re-consider the plan of partially mining the 2400 KM long border, the sources added.

Pakistan announced the plans to mine and fence parts of its2400 -kilometer frontier with Afghanistan on December 26 to check cross-border terrorism.

New Face

Rejecting the new US demands, analysts say, Pakistan is showing a new face to its long-time ally and giving priority to its own interests.

"It seems if Pakistan has started to understand what is in its interest and what is not," Ishtiaq Hussein, an Islamabad-based expert in Afghan affairs, told IOL.

General Musharraf has recently made a180 -degree turn in Pakistan's policy toward US policies in the region, Hussein said.

"Now, the time has come when Pakistan must tell America that what can it do and what it cannot in war against terrorism.

"One could understand Pakistan’s compulsions in2001 , but this is2007 , and America is not in a position whereby it can attack or even threat to attack Pakistan," the Pakistani analyst added.

Shortly after the September 11attacks, Pakistan abandoned its support for the Taliban, which was sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders, and became a front-line ally in the US-led "war on terror."

Pakistan has since arrested several senior Al-Qaeda members including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks.

But recently, the Pakistani ally has sounded a tougher tone.

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