US defence secretary Leon Panetta has said that the al-Qaeda leader is most likely in hiding in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
US defence secretary Leon Panetta has said that al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is most likely in hiding in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
“One of the last things I did as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was to sit down with my counterparts in Pakistan and make clear to them that, you know, there are a set of targets that we have, and the more that they can help us go after those targets, the more we will have the ability to achieve our goals in Pakistan in defeating al-Qaeda,” Panetta said while en route to Afghanistan.
“So, you know, my sense is that, to answer your question, we think that Zawahiri is one of those that still resides in the FATA and he’s one of those that we would like to see the Pakistanis target, along with our capabilities as well,” he added.
When asked whether do the Pakistanis share these US goals, Panetta replied: “We have to continue to emphasise with the Pakistanis that in the end it’s in their interest to be able to go after these targets as well.”
“And in the discussions I’ve had with them, I have to say that, you know, they’re giving us cooperation in going after some of these targets. We’ve got to continue to push them to do that. That’s key,” he maintained.
Panetta also said the United States has identified some 10 to 20 key al-Qaeda leaders in areas like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa, and that tracking them down would mean the defeat of the terror organisation.
“We have them on the run. Now is the moment, following what happened to [Osama] bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them, because I do believe if we continue this effort we can cripple al-Qaeda as a threat,” he added.
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