Taliban Leader Calls Cease-Fire Within Pakistan

Omar, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said the newly formed coalition government in Pakistan has accepted several of the extremists' demands, including the withdrawal of Pakistani security forces from the country's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and a prisoner exchange. The agreement also calls for compensation for the families of people killed in military operations in the region and a promise to cease arresting tribesmen suspected of ties to the Taliban or al-Qaeda, Omar said.

"Everything has been decided, and now it's a matter of a few days and everybody will see the agreement very soon," the Taliban spokesman said. "We are very hopeful that [the] Pakistani government will abide by the agreement, which will usher in a new era of peace in the region."

Omar vowed, however, to continue fighting U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. "The presence of the U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan is the mother of all ill and there will be no peace until their presence in the region has ended," he said.

Pakistani officials in Islamabad have shied away from speaking publicly about the agreement with Mehsud or other extremists. But several officials acknowledged Thursday that talks were underway. "We have formed different teams for talking with militants, including Baitullah Mehsud," said Arshad Abdullah, provincial law minister in the North-West Frontier.

Provincial government officials in the North-West Frontier said the negotiations started several months before the secular Awami National Party was swept into power in the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections on a promise to quell the violence that has rocked the region.

"We are not the architects of this agreement because it started months before our coming into power," said Afrasiab Khattak, provincial head of the Awami National Party. "We are in touch with all and a peace deal is possible."

This week, Pakistani authorities released another pro-Taliban leader as part of a deal reached between officials in the North-West Frontier and Islamist fighters in the region. Sufi Mohammad, the founder of one of Pakistan's most extreme religious groups, was captured after inciting fighters to battle U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001.

While Mohammad has pledged to encourage his fighters to lay down their arms, his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, another extremist leader, this week vowed to continue attacks on government forces and to push for the enforcement of a strict version of Islamic law in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Ali reported from Peshawar.