Elements of al Qaeda remain in Pakistan, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding that unless more was done to stop the flow of recruits into militant groups the war on terror would never be won. U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Douglas Feith, in Pakistan for talks on security and defense issues, said disrupting and destroying terrorist networks was not enough. "We also have to address the flow of people into the ranks of the terrorists organizations," he told a news conference after talks with Pakistani defense officials in the garrison city of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. "If we don't stop that flow of people into the ranks of terrorist groups, then we are never going to win the war." But hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are still hiding in Pakistan's mountains bordering Afghanistan and in major cities. Feith said the Pakistani government was focused and quite active in tracking and pursuing the remnants of al Qaeda, including those groups that fled from Afghanistan. But he added: "To win the war, we have to deny terrorists what they need to operate, we have to deny them what they need to survive."
Feith said Islamabad's long-running effort to acquire more F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States was being considered. It was one of many issues discussed Thursday. "Pakistan has been developing various ideas about its priorities in defense trade," he said. Pakistan's Defense Secretary Hamid Nawaz Khan earlier told reporters the two sides had made tangible progress on many issues. He did not give any details. "There is a lot of hope in the air," Khan said. The Pentagon notified the U.S. Congress in November of three proposed arms sales to Pakistan worth $1.2 billion, including eight P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft Islamabad says would be used in the hunt for militants on its border with Afghanistan. In June, Washington declared Pakistan to be a major non-NATO ally, making easier for it to acquire U.S. arms.