Bin Laden whereabouts are speculation: Pakistan envoy to US
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The belief by intelligence organizations that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is in a remote Pakistan border area is just "speculation," Pakistan's envoy to the United States said Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mahmoud Ali Durrani was asked on CNN about an interview Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf gave to CBS television, to be broadcast later Sunday.
CNN quoted Musharraf as saying of bin Laden: "There is no proof whatsoever that he's here.
"We are not particularly looking for him, but we are operating against him and Al-Qaeda and militant Taliban and in the process obviously combined maybe we are looking for him also."
Durrani sought to clarify saying "I think the president is suggesting that neither we, nor the US, has any intelligence where exactly Osama bin Laden is."
"He may be in Afghanistan," the ambassador said. "He may be in the border region. If we knew where he was, we would have taken him out."
The New York Times reported that under a proposal being discussed in Washington, CIA operatives based in Afghanistan would be able to call on direct military support for counter-terrorism operations in neighboring Pakistan.
Durrani noted that US and other foreign intelligence agencies believe bin Laden to be sheltering in the tribal area along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But "that's just speculation," the envoy said.
"Believe me. If they knew or we knew we would have taken him out," he said.
"And when Musharraf says that he's not specifically looking for Osama, what he really means is that we are totally focused on destroying Al-Qaeda and the Taliban network and not just one person."
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=8249.0
Topic: Bin Laden Is Already Dead? (Read 654 times)