Updated on Sunday, December 31, 2006, 00:00 IST

Islamabad, Dec 31: Pakistan has told the US government that it will hold another round of peace talks with tribal elders and ulema in Waziristan to overcome militancy in the region, rather than launch an immediate military operation.

The US had earlier demanded military operations in North and South Waziristan against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher had said that the banned militia had asserted itself in the tribal agency and established a command and control structure in the region.

He said the US and the Afghanistan government was alarmed at this development and had conveyed its concerns to Pakistan.

Pakistani officials, however, said Islamabad wanted to give another chance to peace dialogue with the tribesmen before any military offensive.

US and Afghan concerns over a second deal in Waziristan is understandable as the September 5 armistice between the tribal elders in North Waziristan and the Pakistan government failed to live up to its expectations.

Not only did the Taliban reassert itself in Waziristan, there was as much as 300 percent increase in insurgent raids into the border Afghan regions by Pakistan based Taliban and al Qaeda elements.

In his strongest statement yet blaming Islamabad since a wave of violence swept through southern and south-eastern Afghanistan last year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan of trying to destablise and enslave Afghanistan.

He also indicted Pakistan of not doing enough to control insurgent raids into southern and south eastern Afghanistan by Taliban and al Qaeda elements based along the mountainous and porous Pak-Afghan border region.

Elsewhere, Pakistani officials, said Islamabad had belied the impression that the Taliban were using the tribal areas as sanctuaries for regrouping, saying that the Talibanization of tribal belt would not be allowed.

The Nation quoted Pakistani officials as saying that the Bush administration was getting impatient over the rising insurgency in Afghanistan due to what they believed was cross border infiltration from Pakistan, and Pakistan was unhappy over such statements about increasing Taliban influence in its tribal areas.

They said Pakistan was doing whatever it could to help curb the insurgency in Afghanistan. As such, it had told the Bush administration to provide concrete evidence about any Taliban sanctuaries in Waziristan rather than give such statements to media on such a vital issue.

Bureau Report