Islamabad, Oct 5 : A senior Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader has said that talks with the government in Islamabad cannot succeed until US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had said recently that his administration was ready to hold negotiations with all militant groups in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

"We never reject negotiations but I believe they can''t succeed until 2014," TTP’s deputy commander Maulvi Fakir Mohammed told BBC''s Urdu service by telephone, from an undisclosed location.

Maulvi Fakir also repeated two long-standing Taliban demands - that Pakistan enforce the Sharia law in the country and stop doing America''s bidding.

Otherwise, the conflict in Pakistan would continue, he added.

Based on the response from Maulvi Fakir, the Pakistani Taliban appear to have little appetite for talks now, the report said.

In spite of various police and army crackdowns, they still manage to carry out deadly attacks on high-profile targets in the country on a regular basis.

They may see no reason to negotiate with an enemy - the Pakistan government - that is so visibly weak, the report added.

Talks with militants is a policy that Pakistani officials have pursued in the past to their cost.

Insurgents used previous rounds of negotiations to strengthen their position, and then renege on their commitments. The Taliban takeover of the Swat Valley in 2009 was a prime example. (ANI)