 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said Monday that Osama bin Laden was likely to be in Afghanistan, rejecting a reported claim by KabulÂ’s foreign minister that the Al Qaeda chief is hiding in Pakistani territory.
In the latest verbal salvo between the neighbours and allies in the US-led “war on terror”, Islamabad dismissed criticism by new Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta of its attempts to catch Bin Laden. “Nobody knows where Osama bin Laden is. If he is alive the chances are that he might be in Afghanistan but we cannot say for sure,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said when asked about Spanta’s comments.
Spanta was reported to have told a German newspaper at the weekend that Pakistan was “half-hearted” in its efforts to track down Bin Laden and to crack down on Islamic militants. “I think these allegations are absurd -- if anyone is making half-hearted efforts it’s on other side,” she said.
| "We went to each and every door in Peshawar and asked if Binny was there, and each and every time we were told 'no, he's not home'. Now you call that half-hearted? Huh? Huh?" she challenged. |
“Pakistan has sacrificed more in terms of the human lives than the combined loss of Afghanistan and ISAF (the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan),” Aslam said.
| Careful, those are our boys you're talking about. |
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