US to prod Pakistan to flush out Al-Qaeda leaders
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-23 11:30

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Islamabad was working hard to capture Al-Qaeda leaders in the country's remote northwest region, ahead of meetings with US officials in Washington this week.

He also said that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who US officials believe is hiding out in Pakistan's rugged tribal regions along the Afghan border, might not even be in his country.

"We and the rest of the world have no clue where he or his associates are ... He could be anywhere in the region or even outside the region," Aziz told CNN's "Late Edition" program.

US leaders are expected to press Aziz to step up efforts to flush out bin Laden and other top Al-Qaeda figures in their meetings, which come after a week of protests in Pakistan against a US strike targeting an Al-Qaeda meeting which left an estimated 18 dead, most of them reportedly civilians.

Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri taunted the United States last week in new recorded messages, glorifying the terror network's bloody actions and warning of more to come.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, pictured 14 January 2006, said Islamabad was working hard to capture Al-Qaeda leaders in the country's remote northwest region, ahead of meetings with US officials in Washington this week. [AFP/file]

Aziz told CNN Sunday that Pakistan has already shown its commitment to pursuing the group by rounding up 600 Al-Qaeda members in the rugged region.

"We have moved a lot of troops and intelligence people there. And as you know, 600 Al-Qaeda people, including all the senior people so far captured, have been captured by these forces," he said.

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who is facing an increasing litany of tribulations at home, has sent Aziz to meet with President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Al-Qaeda and terrorism are widely expected to dominate the agenda, including the jump in suicide bombings and roadside blasts in Afghanistan, which are attributed to foreign militants crossing the border from Pakistan, said Strategic Forecasting Inc. (Stratfor), a private US intelligence firm.

"While Washington continues to get cooperation from Pakistan, it is always concerned about the quality of the cooperation and its longevity, if you will," said Kamran Bokhari, Stratfor's senior analyst for Middle East and South Asia.

Stratfor questioned Islamabad's commitment to flushing out bin Laden and Zawahiri.

"Our company places them somewhere in northwestern Pakistan, we don't even think they are in the tribal areas.

"How they have survived this long? Definitely, there is evidence to suggest that in certain quarters of the military and security apparatus, there are sympathizers," Bokhari said.

The release of audio tapes featuring bin Laden and Zawahiri could be intended as reassurance to supporters that Al-Qaeda's top leadership remained intact and that the United States is not capable of taking out the leaders, Stratfor said.

Pakistan could be harbouring Al-Qaeda leaders "as something that can be traded for American goodwill," said Frederic Grare, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The earlier they get rid of them, the lesser their leverage. So, they have an interest in keeping them as long as possible," he said, adding that Musharraf's political position has weakened in recent months over a number of issues.

Musharraf's position and the US pressure on Islamabad over the Al-Qaeda presence were complicated by the January 13 US missile attack on a Pakistani village in the country's northwest, where Zawahiri was thought to be attending a dinner.

Islamabad registered an official protest with Washington, saying that no prior notification of the attack had been made despite an agreement on such actions between the two countries.

While some reports said that four or five Al-Qaeda figures were killed, Aziz said there was only evidence that 13 civilians were killed, and suggested the attack was made based on poor intelligence.

"There is no evidence ... that any other people were there" besides the civilians, he said. "These people (Al-Qaeda) don't get together for dinner."

"This was not coordinated" with Islamabad, he added. "We had no idea that this would take place" ... The understanding is that we will work together," he said, while pledging Pakistan's continued support for the US campaign against terrorism.