| The US military said on Tuesday it expected Al Qaeda to continue its “re-emergence” in sanctuaries in Pakistan’s tribal areas from where it supported attacks in Afghanistan. Sanctuary was provided to Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels after Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in a desperate attempt to quell the unrest in its Tribal Areas in September 2006, US Major Tim Williams, future operations intelligence planner, told reporters at Bagram Air Field. The militants called off the deal in July this year after Pakistani security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad where rebels had massed. “This area remains a support and sanctuary area for the insurgency as results of those peace accords,” he said. He said the Islamic rebels were likely to maintain their presence in those areas despite apparent efforts by Pakistani army to root them out. “In FATA, we anticipate sanctuary in this region to continue the Al Qaeda re-emergence,” Williams said. This “sanctuary” could shelter the fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, the officer said. |