ISLAMABAD (AFP) — European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday he backed the new Pakistani government's moves to hold talks with Taliban militants, but ruled out any negotiations with Al-Qaeda.
Solana arrived in Pakistan late Monday for talks on boosting cooperation between the EU and Pakistan, which is emerging from eight years of military rule but still facing the threat of Islamist violence.
He supported the recent moves by Pakistan to open dialogue with Taliban militants in a bid to restore peace and order in Pakistan and its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"It is up to the country to give benefit to those who want to contribute to the well-being of the country by participating in a dialogue which is under the umbrella of the constitution of the country," Solana told reporters.
But he told a joint press conference with Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that peace talks with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network were out of the question.
"The answer is no," he said when asked whether he would accept negotiations with Al-Qaeda.
Hundreds of mainly Arab Al-Qaeda militants took shelter in Pakistan's tribal belt after US-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime in 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Al-Qaeda formed a nexus with so-called Pakistani Taliban in the region, but Pakistan has said it will negotiate with homegrown militants, many of whom it believes are motivated by political and economic concerns as much as Islam.
The new government on Monday released a pro-Taliban militant leader Sufi Mohammad under a peace deal which includes a pledge that his group will not fight security forces.
Qureshi described it as "a good confidence-building measure."
"The present government has decided to engage politically. This is a positive development," the foreign minister said.
Qureshi said that the government had "other options" if it felt that the other side tried to exploit the arrangement -- a reference to the military operations that Pakistan has employed in the tribal belt since 2001.
"The government would want to give dialogue and reconciliation its utmost, a full chance. But on the other hand if we feel that spirit behind this initiative is not being met well other options are always there," he said.
He ruled out a link Mohammad's release and ongoing efforts to free Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber tribal district while travelling to Afghan capital Kabul.
"I don't link the two. This is an initiative that has been taken to support the reconciliatory environment and support the process of dialogue that we intend to initiate," he said.
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