Holbrooke talking to Pakistani Muslims

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is reaching out to anti-American Pakistani Islamic politicians for dialogue, officials say.

This week, Holbrooke met with outspoken Islamic politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, and has also held talks with Liaqat Baloch of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

After meeting with Baloch in Islamabad, Holbrooke told the newspaper the meeting had begun "a very useful dialogue." An aide reportedly declared Holbrooke's meeting as a "major outreach" effort by the Obama administration, which is attempting to establish contacts with groups the previous U.S. administration would not deal with.

In another illustration of the new approach, Holbrooke met Monday with former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom officials of the Bush administration had shunned because of what it said were his ties to militant groups, the Times reported.