WASHINGTON, Dec 16: President Pervez Musharraf has for the first time identified an area where he thinks Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.

When asked where he thinks the 9/11 mastermind could be, Mr Musharraf said in an interview to The Washington Post that he could be in the area that borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

In the past, whenever the president was asked where he thought Bin Laden or Al Qaeda leaders might be hiding, he said he did not know; often asking the interviewer to share with him if he or she knew where the Al Qaeda leader was.

Asked can Pakistan contain the threat from the extremists, Mr Musharraf told the Post: “We are combating it, and I think we are on the winning side.”

He then explained that terrorism was a problem only in three areas: north and south Waziristan and Bajaur. This prompted the interviewer to ask if he thinks Osama bin Laden was hiding in this area.

“No, these are settled districts. He could be in Bajaur – this is the tribal agency bordering Kunar province, where there were no coalition forces in the past,” he said. “On the Afghan side – that’s in Afghanistan,” he added.

“So you can go from one side to the other,” asked the interviewer.

“That’s a possibility,” said the president.

“Does your intelligence service know where Osama is?” he was asked. “Nobody knows,” said the president.