Islamabad, Sep 26 (DPA) Afghanistan's rulers have revived an old practice of buying influence among kindred tribes in Pakistan, the Daily Times reported Tuesday.

President Hamid Karzai's government was paying "monthly stipends" of $17 to $680 to some 2,300 chosen "elders" of the Pushtun tribes inhabiting the long tribal belt of Pakistan, the newspaper said, quoting tribal and official sources, who requested anonymity.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Frontier and Tribal Affairs selected the recipients, according to the newspaper's sources.

The policy of paying rebellious tribesmen to keep them quiet has survived the British colonialists, who introduced it centuries ago.

Afghan mujahedin groups, who gained power in Kabul in the early 1990s after driving the Soviet troops out with the help of the US and Pakistan, were comparatively pro-Pakistan and had stopped the payments, said the newspaper, which is usually critical of Pakistan's Afghan policy.

"I think Kabul has restored the stipends because it wants to win the hearts and minds of the (Pakistani) tribesmen. However it may use the stipends for some other purpose after sometime," one source told the newspaper, suggesting sabotage activities.

Afghan officials blame Pakistan for the resurgence of the Islamist Taliban, which the US crushed in retaliation of the 9/11 terror attacks by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda was given a safe haven in Afghanistan by the Taliban.