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Afghan claim that Binny lives in Pakistan is "absurd"
Pakistan said yesterday that the new Afghan foreign minister's claim that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan was "absurd" and, if the Al Qaeda leader was alive, he was more likely to be on the Afghan side of the border.In an interview with Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said Pakistani authorities were making "half-hearted efforts" to catch Bin Laden. Reacting at a news briefing in Islamabad, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokeswoman described Spanta's comments as "outlandish". "Nobody knows where Bin Laden is. If he is alive the chances are he might be in Afghanistan. But you can't say for sure," spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. She said Pakistan had deployed around 80,000 troops on its side of the long, porous border, and was "doing more than any other country in the war against terrorism." "Afghans need to concentrate on taking action on their side instead of levelling accusations at Pakistan," she added. A war of words erupted in February after Afghanistan said Pakistan was not doing enough to catch Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Since late last year, a Taliban-inspired insurgency has gathered fresh strength and its fighters have increasingly used suicide bombers to attack US and Afghan troops. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-05-16 |
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