Taliban scraps peace deal, vows more attacks on Pakistani forces

August 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Sunday the security forces will continue their offensives against the Taliban during the holy month of Ramadan, the Online news agency reported. "We are not interested in a ceasefire," Malik said.

June 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban has scrapped the peace deal it had inked with the government 16 months ago in North Waziristan. According to sources, the announcement regarding the discontinuation of the nine-point peace agreement was made by the local Taliban shura (consultation).

May 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the Taliban have spent huge sums of money to lure youths to carry out suicide attacks in the country. He said: 'They (Taliban) bought youths from the poor families in half a million to 2.5 million rupees (about $30,802) for suicide attacks.' The Taliban want to weaken the country, Malik told reporters after visiting relief camps in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

May 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Asif Ali Zardari has said he knew the Swat peace deal with the Taliban would not work, even as the Pakistan Army intensified its operation against the militant group in the troubled region. The Pakistani Army's advance in Swat marks the failure of Islamabad's boldest attempt yet to compromise with the Taliban.

April 28th, 2009 Pakistan vows action if Taliban don't exit BunerISLAMABAD — Pakistan warned militants Tuesday to leave a district just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the capital or face military action, an indication that the government may be willing to expand an offensive in the Afghan border region covered by a much-criticized peace deal. Interior Minister Rehman Malik's stern comments came amid heightened U.S.

April 28th, 2009 Pakistan vows action if Taliban don't exit areaISLAMABAD — Pakistan warned militants Tuesday to leave a district just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the capital or face military action, an indication that the government may be willing to expand an offensive in the Afghan border region covered by a much-criticized peace deal. Interior Minister Rehman Malik's stern comments came amid heightened U.S.

April 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A close aide of former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf indicated Tuesday the country's military was unhappy over the manner in which the civilian government was tackling the Taliban in the restive northwest. 'If the government hadn't delayed, there wouldn't have been any Taliban today,' Maj.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani forces Monday tightened their noose around the Taliban on the second day of an air and land operation in the country's troubled northwest, prompting the militants to suspend an accord to restore peace in the area. The security forces had killed 20 militants and had retaken the Lower Dir district on Monday, Geo TV reported.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani forces Monday regained control of the Lower Dir district from the Taliban, the military said, as the militants suspended a peace accord meant to restore peace in the area. 'Frontier Corps troops (sic) engaged suspected hideouts of militants in general area of Maidan, Lower Dir today (Monday),' an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

April 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - To justify their peace deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley, the Pakistan Government has termed global concerns over the deal with militant over as "premature." "The peace accord has the backing of the National Assembly and a vast majority of the people, and it will help bring about peace and prosperity in the region," The Nation quoted Pakistan's Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit, as saying. Basit admitted that Pakistan had differences with the United States over the drone attacks on its territory.

April 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A deal between the Pakistani government and the Taliban to restore peace in the Swat Valley Thursday collapsed with a radical cleric withdrawing from the pact he helped broker, reports said 'Maulana Sufi Mohammad announced his withdrawal from Swat peace deal on Thursday,' Geo TV reported. The cleric had helped broker the deal between the North West Frontier Province government and the Taliban under which the militants had agreed to lay down their arms in return for the imposition of Sharia laws in the area.

March 10th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Three weeks after agreeing to a controversial peace deal in its restive northwest, the Pakistani government Monday inked another deal with a key militant tribe in the restive Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). 'The government of Pakistan and the Mamond tribe have struck a peace deal (in Peshawar),' Geo TV said.

February 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Taliban leader Mullah Omar has asked Pakistani militants to halt attacks on Pakistani forces, media reports said Tuesday. In a letter to the leaders of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militants, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the head of the ousted Taliban regime, said that fighting fellow Muslims was not jihad, The News reported.

February 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A Taliban commander in Pakistan's tribal region Bajaur has announced a unilateral ceasefire, a television channel reported Tuesday. Maulana Faqir Mohammad, a local Taliban leader in Bajaur tribal agency, has made the announcement on the radio, Dawn News TV channel quoted sources as saying.

February 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Thursday underlined the danger posed by the Taliban to the region and the world and stressed on the need for confronting and defeating the hardline militia, which 'propagates the cult of violence'. 'The Taliban has to be confronted and defeated.