 WASHINGTON - US leaders are expected to call for more intensive efforts by Pakistan to flush out Osama bin Laden and his number two from their sanctuary in meetings with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here this week. akistani President General Pervez Musharraf, who is facing an increasing litany of tribulations at home, has sent Aziz, among his most trusted lieutenants, to meet with President George W. Bush and other leaders.
Counter-terrorism is widely expected to hog the agenda, as the back to back release of bin Laden and Zawahiri’s recordings has sent a chilling reminder to Americans that the masterminds of the September 11, 2001 attacks remain at large, experts said.
Another additional US concern is the jump in suicide bombings and roadside blasts in Afghanistan, attributed to an influx of foreign militants from the border with Pakistan, said Strategic Forecasting Inc. (Stratfor), a private US intelligence firm. “While Washington continues to get cooperation from Pakistan, it is always concerned about the quality of the cooperation and its longevity, if you will,” said Kamran Bokhari, Stratfor’s senior analyst for Middle East and South Asia.
| Which means we're not getting cooperation the way we want. |
Stratfor believes bin Laden and Zawahiri are in northwestern Pakistan. “To the best of our understanding, our company places them somewhere in northwestern Pakistan, we don’t even think they are in the tribal areas.
“How they have survived this long? Definitely, there is evidence to suggest that in certain quarters of the military and security apparatus, there are sympathisers,” Bokhari said.
| Brilliant guys, I could do this from Chicago. |
Pakistan could be harbouring Al Qaeda leaders “as something that can be traded for American goodwill,” said Frederic Grare, a visiting scholar with the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he is leading a project assessing US and European policies toward Pakistan. “The earlier they get rid of them, the lesser their leverage. So, they have an interest in keeping them as long as possible,” he said. “Not that I suspect any ideological sympathy, let’s be clear on that.”
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