Word out of Pakistan is Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader on the run for harboring Bin Laden and his motley crew, was pivotal in the recent peace agreement between Musharraf’s government and the lawless norther provinces.

The fugitive Taliban commander Mullah Omar has emerged as the key player behind the movement’s controversial peace deal with Pakistan.

The Taliban’s one-eyed spiritual leader, who has a $10 million price on his head for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, signed a letter explicitly endorsing the truce announced this month. The deal between the Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants in the tribal provinces bordering Afghanistan was designed to end five years of bloodshed in the area.

Mullah Omar
Mullah Omar brokered the controversial peace deal

In return for an end to the US-backed government campaign in Waziristan, the tribal leaders – who have harboured Taliban and al-Qaeda units for more than five years – agreed to halt attacks on Pakistani troops, more than 500 of whom have been killed.

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Waziristan has a 50-mile border with Afghanistan’s Paktika province, long a trouble spot for US and Afghan forces in their battle against al-Qaeda and Taliban renegades. It is home to three tiers of Islamists who operate freely. Of greatest security concern is the al-Qaeda element, followed by Afghani Taliban and then local Taliban.

In return for a reduction in the Pakistani army’s 80,000-strong presence and the release of about 165 hardcore militants arrested for attacks on Pakistani armed forces, local Taliban agreed to stop supporting the foreign militants in their midst, and promised not to set up their own fundamentalist administrations.

I keep wondering why this deal is in place. And I keep coming back to some huge payoff for the ending of the slaughter of Taliban fighters, who have been killed by the hundreds this year alone. If Bin Laden is dying, then maybe the truce is a face saving way for the Taliban to provide Bin Laden a respectful death, and then announce (with proof) the end of Al Qaeda’s notorious leader. All speculation of course, but Musharraf would have been safer destroying the Taliban in Pakistan. Something is afoot. Something is happening that is making the radical Islamicists ready to stop their losing battle. Of course, this is all wild speculation on my part and things could be totally different. But the US would not stand by for the peace agreement without serious and lasting conditions. Remember, the last thing Bush wants is expanding the war. We may have decimated the enemy sufficiently to attempt some diplomatic efforts. We shall see.