- ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Deployment
of more U.S. troops in Pakistan to hunt for members of Osama bin Laden's
al Qaeda network would be unwise and was unnecessary, Pakistan's President
Pervez Musharraf said on Monday.
-
- Asked in an interview with Cable News Network television
how he would respond if the United States asked to put more troops in Pakistan,
General Musharraf replied:
-
- "U.S. troops? No, I don't think that would be wise
at all. We are looking after any foreign elements in Pakistan. We have
deployed a part of our army and the frontier force for this purpose and
the United States knows what we are doing.
-
- "We are fully involved in this act. We don't need
assistance. We will ask for assistance if we require it. I think our forces
are capable of meeting whatever is required in Pakistan."
-
- Pakistan has been a staunch ally of the U.S. campaign
in Afghanistan after September 11 and small numbers of U.S. personnel have
operated with its forces in semi-autonomous border areas of the country
in the hunt for such fugitives.
-
- The Pakistani military has also permitted the U.S. to
use three airbases for logistics purposes.
-
- General Tommy Franks, the head of the U.S. Central Command
responsible for operations in Afghanistan, said during a visit to Kabul
last month the U.S.-led war on terror needed to look at neighboring countries.
-
- Large numbers of fighters of the former Taliban regime
in Afghanistan and their allies from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network
are thought to have fled U.S.-led offensives into Pakistan and other neighboring
countries.
-
- However, there could be fierce resistance among people
along the often lawless border to the presence of substantial numbers of
U.S. soldiers -- something that would probably be opposed by many ordinary
Pakistanis as well.
-
- U.S. PRAISE
-
- Last month, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage
praised Musharraf during a visit to Islamabad for his help in tracking
down al Qaeda remnants.
-
- Pakistani troops have rounded up several suspected al
Qaeda militants, including one of bin Laden's top deputies Abu Zubaydah,
who it handed over to the United States in April.
-
- The whereabouts of the group's leader Osama bin Laden,
who the United States accuses of masterminding the September 11 attacks
on New York and Washington, remain unknown, however.
-
- When asked by CNN about the failure of efforts to find
bin Laden, Musharraf suggested al Qaeda had been significantly weakened.
-
- "Well, Osama bin Laden has not been found -- I would
say he may even be dead, but the leadership and the entire organization
is in total disarray at the moment."
-
- Asked if he expected some kind of attack on a Western
target on the anniversary of September 11, he said:
-
- "One can't rule out the possibility. But again,
one would not like to put the entire onus on the door of al Qaeda again,
because I don't think they are organized.
-
- "But so much of whatever is happening in the Middle
East has its own repercussions and therefore a possibility does exist."
-
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