[t-birds]

WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said any new government in Pakistan should be wary of holding talks with the pro-Taliban insurgents. Gates told the BBC that efforts of the previous administration to negotiate with the militants had not worked out.

Speaking in Delhi, Gates said the polls had been bad for Musharraf. But Gates said the US hoped to continue working with the man he described as the elected president of Pakistan. Gates said the new government would have to face the reality that the al-Qaeda militants and insurgents were operating along the frontier.

"Even the Musharraf government tried talking and doing deals in Waziristan. That didn't work out very well," he said. "Maybe this new government in Pakistan will have to go through the same experience itself," he added. Opposition leaders have hinted they are willing to talk to the insurgents, with a view to drawing them into the political process.