June 13, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1429

WASHINGTON, June 12: Pakistan would attack Osama bin Laden the moment it had reliable intelligence on his whereabouts, the country’s ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday.

Husain Haqqani also said he was confident that Pakistan could help foil any Al Qaeda plans to attack the US, although he did not know of any right now.

“A cooperative effort between all the allies, and that includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States and Nato – I think we can thwart any potential plans for an attack,” Haqqani said in an interview with Reuters.

The ambassador is pressing for more cooperation with the United States on intelligence and wants to convince Washington that Pakistan’s new government remains committed to fighting terrorism.

He said Pakistani intelligence had helped defeat many of the `several dozen’ Al Qaeda plots detected worldwide since the 9/11 attacks, but government officials knew of no immediate threats to the United States.

Haqqani’s remarks came a day after a top US military officer said Al Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in Pakistani tribal areas were planning new attacks.The ambassador said Pakistan would act on its own against Al Qaeda if necessary.

—Reuters