Politics | Quetta For Pakistan, Taliban Leader Outranks US Islamabad backs off Haqqani, a crucial link to Afghanistan By Nick McMaster Posted Dec 14, 2009 4:55 PM CST Copied In this Aug. 22, 1998 file photo, Jalaluddin Haqqani, then Taliban Army Supreme Commander, speaks during an interview in Miram Shah, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Mohammed Riaz, file) Pakistani officials are balking at pursuing a Taliban leader who poses a major threat to US forces in Afghanistan, underscoring their lack of faith in the Obama surge. Pakistan has made a separate peace with Siraj Haqqani, allowing him the use of North Waziristan as a base of operations after the Tablian's collapse in 2001. The country sees Haqqani as crucial to maintaining influence in Afghanistan after the US pulls out in 2011. That Pakistan sees Afghanistan 2011 as a free-for-all in which India, China, Iran, and Russia will vie for influence shows lack of faith in the ability of the US military to enact lasting change, the New York Times reports. Ashfaq Kayani, the head of the Pakistani military, has argued the nation has its hands full with Taliban militants attacking inside Pakistan—unlike Haqqani, who fights in Afghanistan. But Kayani also concedes his Afghan operations are the single most dangerous threat to coalition troops. Read These Next Sienna proves herself to be a very, very good dog. Three hikers jumped into a waterfall and never resurfaced. America has lost a '60s teen idol. Millions of student loan borrowers could see their paychecks docked. Report an error