Bush terms Sept deal a failure: Report on ‘Al Qaeda havens’ endorsed
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, July 21: US President George W. Bush on Saturday endorsed an intelligence report claiming that Al Qaeda has established a safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
In his weekly radio address, Mr Bush also noted that the agreement President Gen Pervez Musharraf had signed with tribal elders in North Waziristan has failed but expressed full confidence in the Pakistani leader’s ability to fight terrorists.
Referring to a report submitted to the White House last week by 16 US intelligence agencies, Mr Bush said: “One of the most troubling is its assessment that Al Qaeda has managed to establish a safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.”
The Pakistan Foreign Office, however, has rejected the US report as ‘unsubstantiated’ and has urged Washington to ‘actionable intelligence.’
“It does not help simply to make assertions about the presence or regeneration of Al Qaeda in bordering areas of Pakistan. What is needed is concrete and actionable information and intelligence sharing,” the Foreign Office said.
Mr Bush, however, said that even President Musharraf recognised that the agreement he signed on Sept 5 with tribal elders for policing their area had failed and he was “taking active steps to correct it.”
He noted that earlier this month, President Musharraf sent in troops to go after radicals who seized control of a mosque, and “then he delivered a speech vowing to rid all of Pakistan of extremism.”
He linked the US global campaign against Al Qaeda to Pakistan’s efforts to quell extremist violence and expressed full US support for Gen Musharraf efforts to rid his country of extremism, including an Al Qaeda “safe haven” in tribal areas.
“Pakistani forces are in the fight, and many have given their lives. The United States supports them in these efforts. And we will work with our partners to deny safe haven to the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan — or anywhere else in the world,” Mr Bush said.
