Zardari: Pakistan willing to hold talks with ‘reconcilable’ Taliban; German Chancellor Merkel urges Pakistan to play a larger in Afghanistan; US Envoy to CD: Pakistan delaying talks; Audit report shows US aid not being properly utilised in FATA;
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  • President Zardari, addressing a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and President Karzai in Istanbul on January 26 stated that Pakistan was willing to hold talks with the ‘reconcilable’ Taliban and pursue a policy of 3Ds - dialogue, development and deterrence. The summit was intended to develop an “indigenous” way to fight terrorism.1 German Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile urged Pakistan to play a larger role vis-a-vis Afghanistan and added that “there will be no peace in this region unless Pakistan carries its share of responsibility.”2

    US representative Garold N. Larson noted that Pakistan was delaying negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. Pakistan attached a condition to its participation at the talks insisting that India be urged to bring down its nuclear stockpile.3

    An audit report revealed that US aid was not being properly utilized in the FATA region even as Washington gets ready to put more money into the militant-infested area. The report notes that only $15.5 million out of a total of $46 million has been spent in the past nearly 2 years.4

    In other developments, at least 16 people were killed in a suicide attack in Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur Agency on January 30 even as reports indicated that differences had cropped up amongst the Taliban factions in the region.5

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