Bin Laden alive in Pakistan: US spy chief
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bin Laden alive in Pakistan: US spy chief*
By Jitendra Joshi in Washington
July 23, 2007 03:02am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
AL-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden is alive and sheltering in lawless
parts of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan, US intelligence chief
Mike McConnell said yesterday.
Mr McConnell blamed President Pervez Musharraf's government for allowing
al-Qaeda to regroup via a peace pact last year with tribal leaders in
the border areas.
But General Musharraf remained a key ally of the US, he said.
The administration's latest remarks, following the White House's refusal
to rule out military attacks on militants inside Pakistan, sparked a
curt response from Islamabad.
"Our stance is that Osama bin Laden is not present in Pakistan,''
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said from the Pakistani capital.
"If anyone has the information he should give it to us, so that we can
apprehend him.''
Asked about bin Laden, the US director of national intelligence told NBC
television: "My personal view is that he's alive. I believe he is in the
tribal region of Pakistan.''
A new report by the US intelligence community last week said al-Qaeda
had regrouped in its Pakistani "safe haven'' and was determined to
inflict mass casualties through new attacks on the United States.
Mr McConnell said that had been possible owing to a September peace
accord between the Pakistani government and pro-Taliban tribal leaders
in the ill-governed region bordering Afghanistan.
A week ago, the tribal militants tore up the pact, stoking tensions as
deadly violence erupted across Pakistan following the military's
crushing of a pro-Taliban uprising at the Red Mosque in Islamabad.
"Instead of pushing al-Qaeda out, they made a safe haven for training
and recruiting. al-Qaeda's been able to regain some of its momentum,''
Mr McConnell said.
Nearly six years on from the September 11 attacks of 2001, al-Qaeda
remained intent on inserting operatives inside the United States, he
said, although there was no evidence of the existence of a "sleeper cell".
Mr McConnell said if Gen Musharraf was forced from power by the Islamist
violence and pro-democracy unrest sweeping Pakistan, that could have a
"severe impact'' on the US struggle against terrorism.
"But President Musharraf is one of our valued allies. He is a
moderate,'' he said, and "probably the majority of (Al-Qaeda's) senior
leadership'' had been killed or captured thanks to Pakistani action.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told CNN that instead of
intelligence estimates, the United States should give Islamabad
"evidence, actionable intelligence'' on the al-Qaeda presence inside
Pakistan.
"Let the United States provide us with actionable intelligence, and you
will find that Pakistan will never be lacking, despite all the
sacrifices that Pakistan has been making.''
White House spokesman Tony Snow, when asked last week whether US forces
could strike militants inside Pakistan, said: "We never rule out any
options, including striking actionable targets".
In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President George W. Bush
expressed full US support for Gen Musharraf's efforts "to rid all of
Pakistan of extremism'' including the al-Qaeda sanctuary in tribal areas.