Pakistani Taliban say withdrawing from key valley, amid mounting pressure from US.

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Pakistani Taliban say withdrawing from key valley
Fri Apr 24, 2009 9:56am BST

BUNER, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani Taliban commander has ordered his men to withdraw from Buner district, a spokesman said on Friday, amid mounting alarm in the United States over the Taliban advance toward the capital of the nuclear-armed Muslim state.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said there were around 100 fighters in Buner, a valley just 100 km (60 miles) from Islamabad and less than five hours drive from the capital.

"Our leader has ordered that Taliban should immediately be called back from Buner," Khan told Reuters.

Khan belongs to a faction led by Fazlullah, the Taliban commander in neighboring Swat valley, where the government has caved in to militants' demands for the imposition of Islamic law.

He said government and Taliban representatives were en route to Buner, along with Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a radical Muslim cleric who brokered the Swat deal, to deliver a message to fighters to vacate the district.

Khan was quoted in the past week as saying al Qaeda would be given refuge in lands under Taliban control.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Pakistan's policies in Swat abdicated authority to the Taliban, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Pakistani leaders to act against foes who posed an "existential threat" to the state.

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