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KOTKAI, Pakistan-The leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed on Saturday to carry on fighting NATO and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan regardless of negotiations for a peace deal with the government of Pakistan.Baitullah Mehsud told a group of journalists, invited to his stronghold in the tribal lands of South Waziristan, that he wanted to stop fighting the Pakistan army."Fighting between the Taliban and Pakistan is harming Islam and Pakistan. This fighting should come to an end immediately," Mehsud said.But he made no commitment about halting attacks in Afghanistan, and said the jihad, or holy war, would carry on."Islam does not recognize frontiers and boundaries. Jihad in Afghanistan will continue," Mehsud said, as guards carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles looked on.Mark Laity, NATO spokesman in Kabul, said: Such comments come as no surprise to us.Mehsud is a very dangerous man and everybody knows that."Mehsud emerged as a notorious militant commander over the past year, having been linked to a string of suicide attacks, including one that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last December.After an offensive in January, the army succeeded in bottling up Mehsud's forces in the mountainous tribal lands of Waziristan, giving the government a stronger position from which to negotiate.
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