Bin Laden's trail gone cold: Musharraf
Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden's trail has gone cold, and US and Pakistani officials have no active leads on where he might be hiding, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a spate of interviews released on Sunday, after his official visit to Washington.
"He is alive, but more than that, where he is, no, it'll be just a guess and it won't have much basis," Pakistani President said. Mr Musharraf added Pakistani forces are still aggressively pursuing bin Laden, but the trail has gone cold in large part because the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, and insufficient recruitment and training for the new Afghan army, were creating "voids ... where US forces or coalition forces are not there," he said.
Pakistan, a key ally in President George W. Bush's "war on terror," is now in the frontline of the global crackdown on terrorism, and its security forces have captured some 600 Al-Qaeda suspects in the past three years.
During his visit to Washington, Mr Musharraf discussed a potential purchase of US F-16 fighter jets to upgrade the defence capability of his country, but did not leave with any new commitments.
Pakistan reportedly wants to buy up to 25 of the F-16s, which cost around US million each, by mid-2005 to add another squadron of such planes to the nuclear-armed nation's existing fleet.
Any defence sales to Pakistan would be watched closely by its nuclear-armed archrival India, which has reportedly expressed interest in buying the US Patriot missile system that can defend against ballistic and cruise missiles and aircraft.
Some critics in the South Asian nations have raised concerns that the potential arms sales could further fuel a regional arms race and political instability while the two rivals hold delicate peace talks to resolve the thorny Kashmir dispute.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday said that Pakistan is a peace-loving country and do not want to indulge in war with anyone but keep its credible defence to defend the country at all cost. He said that economic and military strength were the prerequisites for any country to play effective role in the region.
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25/10/2004
