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WASHINGTON - Last fall, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. told CBN News the Waziristan Accord would be a positive step.
The so-called accord was meant to decrease violence in Pakistan's restless Waziristan region.
"We have dug out some of the al-Qaeda hideouts in Waziristan. Very difficult areas, which were no go areas, we've cleared them. We now have control over both North and South Waziristan," said Pakistani ambassador Mahmud al-Durrani.
But U.S. officials say that since that deal, al-Qaeda and the Taliban have increased their attacks into Afghanistan by some 300 percent. However, despite all the setbacks, Pakistan is still striking deals - this time with jihadists in the country's Bajaur region.
Sources told CBN News this accord is similar to the Waziristan treaty, in which Pakistan turned control of that region over to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
"Bajaur is right by an area where there's been a lot of insurgent activity in Afghanistan. So there's obviously a concern that with this new accord, there will be much more of an increase in attacks against Coalition forces," said CBN News consultant Daveed Gartenstein-Ross.
High-level intelligence sources have told CBN News that the Pakistani government made the deal with Faqir Mohamed, a powerful Taliban leader in Bajaur.
Mohamed's group sent more than 10,000 troops to fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Pilots bombed his home in Bajaur last year to target a top al-Qaeda leader.
Basically, with these accords, he becomes the king of Bajaur. He's a man who is incredibly influential, incredibly powerful there, and basically is the perfect confluence of factors to help al-Qaeda," said Gartenstein-Ross.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf agreed to the Bajaur accord despite increasing White House pressure to crack down on jihadists in the tribal regions.
Terrorism expert Walid Phares says that Musharraf, who's survived several assassination attempts by al-Qaeda, thinks appeasing his jihadi opponents will help him hold on to power.
Phares said, "General Musharraf basically has his own timing, his own interests-and his most important interest is his regime. So he's cutting those deals in Waziristan and now in other provinces coming up. That's very dangerous because more power given to neo-Taliban inside Pakistan would mean - in the future - that it's only going to grow. It could eventually reach all of Pakistan."
Phares says it's time for the U.S. toz lead an international effort to counter jihadism in Pakistan by reaching out to the country's pro-democracy elements.
Pakistan is the only Muslim country to possess nuclear weapons.
And with Musharraf's government facing popular unrest at home, there's real concern those weapons could end up in jihadist hands.