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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan backs 'Bin Laden in Pakistan' charge |
| 2008-02-11 |
| Afghanistan said on Sunday it backed a senior US official’s assertion that Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar were operating from neighbouring Pakistan. The US official said Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and other network members were operating out of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan. Mullah Omar and other ousted Afghan Taliban leaders, meanwhile, were directing insurgent operations in Afghanistan from Quetta, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Pakistan has rejected the charge, but a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed it. “We are glad that finally a high-ranking American official confirmed this matter,” said spokesman Humayun Hamidzada. “The government of Afghanistan has said for years the administration centres, havens and regrouping bases of the enemies of Afghanistan and Taliban are outside Afghanistan. Certainly, the war in Afghanistan should continue, but the war should be taken to the source of terrorism where it is. We are not naming any country.” A Taliban spokesman said Mullah Omar was leading the insurgency from within Afghanistan and said the US official was preparing the ground for a military operation in Pakistan. “This is false. Mullah Omar is not in Quetta at |
| Posted by:Fred |