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U.S. General Tommy Franks in Pakistan
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| Musharraf
meets with Franks |
ISLAMABAD,
June 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Top U.S. military
commander General Tommy Franks held talks with Pakistani President
General Pervez Musharraf here on Monday, June 24, as a senior defense
official insisted there was no hard evidence Osama bin Laden was in
the country.
A
government source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Franks had a
“detailed” meeting with Musharraf and the two then had lunch
together.
According
to news agencies, Franks and Musharraf also discussed “the latest
situation in the war against terrorism and the prevailing tensions on
the Line of Control in the Himalayan region of Kashmir,” a Pakistani
official said on condition of anonymity.
Recently,
Pakistan and India came close to war over the divided Himalayan
province, which both countries claim exclusively.
The
U.S. general later flew to Kabul, where Afghan President Hamid Karzai
said on Sunday that pockets of fighters and individuals - including
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar - are likely in the border region
and remain capable of “terroristic activities.”
Franks
last visited Afghanistan in May, according to news agencies.
An
official statement said the two discussed Pakistan’s cooperation in
the “ongoing war against terrorism” and the situation in
Afghanistan.
Military
spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi denied Franks’ visit was
aimed at boosting the hunt for the world’s most wanted man after the
head of the U.S. Senate intelligence committee claimed he was at large
in Pakistan’s wild western tribal belt.
He
said the matter was not raised during the Franks’ talks with senior
defense officials.
“Tommy
Franks was here this morning and he said no such thing,” Qureshi
said. “That means they have no such information otherwise they would
have shared it with us.”
Franks
arrived late on Sunday as Senator Bob Graham said Bin Laden was
“probably” in Pakistan.
“Our
best intelligence estimate continues to be that he is alive and
probably some place in those tribal areas on the western side of
Pakistan,” Graham told Fox television.
Qureshi
told AFP: “Frankly it doesn’t seem to be hard intelligence which
is actionable.”
He
speculated that Bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and leader of the
Al-Qaeda network, may be in Afghanistan.
“They
have been unable to find him in Afghanistan - is that the reason for
this conclusion? But that would mean he could be anywhere, he could be
in any country,” said Qureshi.
“We
feel he’s perhaps still hiding out in Afghanistan.”
Foreign
office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan later said Bin Laden and his comrades
would be arrested if there was firm evidence he was in Pakistan,
saying “several hundreds” of suspected Al-Qaeda agents had already
been detained.
“There
are a lot of reports about Osama bin Laden being here or there or
there,” Khan told a regular press briefing.
“The
point is we have a close cooperation and coordination with the U.S.
and other coalition partners on this issue and the related issue of
Al-Qaeda members, Al-Qaeda terrorists etc.”
He
added: “If there is any accurate intelligence report about the
whereabouts of these people I’m sure they will be nabbed
immediately.”
Military
spokesman Qureshi said he had heard nothing about a proposal from
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, raised during a television interview
late on Sunday, to set up a three-way U.S., Afghan and Pakistani
operation to hunt down Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
“The
coalition forces are already operating in this fight against
international terrorism and Al-Qaeda,” he said.
“From
what I understand the coalition forces operating in Afghanistan are
operating with the Afghan forces which have good intelligence
links.”
Pakistan’s
army recently announced it was probing remote areas of the
semi-autonomous North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), which borders
Afghanistan, for the first time.
U.S.
FBI agents have been repeatedly attacked in the NWFP, but Qureshi
denied comments from the Pentagon that around 1,100 U.S. troops were
operating from three bases in Pakistan.
“No
combat troops of the United States are operating in Pakistan on any
operation whatsoever,” he said.
But
he said the U.S. does “provide us with information, communication
and intelligence.”
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