Pakistani forces hunt for bin Laden

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that Osama bin Laden may be in a remote and “treacherous” area of Pakistan that his government’s forces are entering for the first time in more than a century.

During a news conference with President Bush to announce $3 billion in proposed U.S. aid to Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf said bin Laden might be crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in an area known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

“This is the first time that the Pakistan army and our civil armed forces have entered this region, and we are in the process of opening out this region,” he said.

“Now, whether Osama bin Laden is here or across the border, your guess, sir, will be as good as mine,” he added. “But the possibility of his maybe shifting sides on the border is very much there.”

Mr. Bush did not dispute the possibility that the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network, which was based in Afghanistan when its members attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, is alive 19 months after the fall of the Taliban regime.

“If Osama bin Laden is alive,” Mr. Bush said, “the people reporting to him, the chief operators, people like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, are no longer a threat to the United States — or Pakistan for that matter.”

Mr. Bush said bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s former dictator, are not the only terrorist “principals” at large.

“There are others around, too, and we are just on the hunt, and we’ll find them — it’s a matter of time,” he said at the news conference, which was held at Camp David. “It could take a day, or it could take a month. It could take years.”

Gen. Musharraf said Pakistani forces have entered a rugged and dangerous region of the country known as the FATA for the first time in “over a century” to hunt down al Qaeda terrorists.

A senior administration official said that although Pakistan is “making genuine efforts” at opening up the FATA, “it’s clear it hasn’t been enough yet.” In addition to paying dividends militarily, the effort is expected to aid tribal Pakistanis by providing roads and other infrastructure.

“It’s a two-pronged policy,” the administration official said. “The [Pakistanis] have never controlled the tribal areas. They figure they need to, to get back control. It’s not just moving in people with guns, it’s also developing the areas.”

As a gesture of thanks for Gen. Musharraf’s support in the war against terrorism, Mr. Bush proposed $3 billion in U.S. aid to Pakistan, half of which would be earmarked for military equipment.

But Mr. Bush turned down Gen. Musharraf’s request to release 28 F-16 jets that Pakistan bought more than 13 years ago. Their delivery was blocked because of U.S. concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear programs.

Still, the United States might provide upgrades and repairs to Pakistan’s fleet of 32 F-16s.

Story Continues →