Mullah Nazir, a senior Taliban leader in South Waziristan who shelters regional al Qaeda leaders and financiers, has long been portrayed by the Pakistani government as a pro-government tribal leader. The media has been eager to repeat these claims, as have some Western Pakistan watchers. But, as recent negotiations show, this is far from the case. The Daily Times reports Nazir is in negotiations with Afghan Taliban leaders for the return of Uzbek members of al Qaeda to the Wana region.
A source close to Maulvi Nazir told Daily Times that a three-member delegation of "the Islamic Emirate" was talking to Maulvi Nazir in Wana to broker a deal between him and pro-Uzbek commanders. He said the delegation members were "not known faces" and one of them was "speaking Pushto in Kandahari accent" suggesting he was from Afghanistan's Kandahar province, the birthplace of Taliban.
Nazir led two "offensives" against Uzbek al Qaeda forces over the past two years. The latest action occurred in early January 2006 after forces from rival Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud executed eight members of a peace jirga. Nazir ordered all Mehsud clansmen to leave Wana and formed a Lashkar, or tribal force, of 600 men. A few commentators referred to this development as the birth of the Pakistani version of the Awakening movement. But Nazir's forces never battled with Baitullah's fighters, and instead negotiations were launched.
As Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and I reported in April 2007, Nazir's intra-Taliban dispute with rival tribal leaders is being spun by the Pakistani government to show a measure of success in the lawless, Taliban controlled tribal regions, but Nazir's Afghan Taliban-brokered negotiations with Baitullah Mehsud show nothing has changed.
The U.S. is concerned, and rightly so, with the rise of the Taliban and al Qaeda in the tribal regions. As yesterday's killing of al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi shows, al Qaeda is operating widely in the tribal regions. The U.S. is initiating its development program in the tribal regions, and will spend $750 million this year alone. With little U.S. presence in the region and even less an understanding of the tribal dynamics, let's hope U.S. funds aren't being funneled to Taliban leaders like Nazir.
