Bin Laden 'most likely hiding in Pakistan'

The US ambassador in charge of counterterrorism said today that parts of Pakistan are a “safe haven” for militants and that Osama bin Laden was more likely to be hiding there than in Afghanistan.

Henry Crumpton lauded Pakistan for arresting “hundreds and hundreds” of al Qaida figures but said that it needed to do more.

“Has Pakistan done enough? I think the answer is no. I have conveyed that to them, other US officials have conveyed that to them,” he told reporters at the US Embassy in Kabul after talks with Afghan officials.

He confirmed that Pakistan had captured Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a top al Qaida strategist with a 5 million US dollar (£2.7 million) bounty on his head - whom US and Pakistani officials say was arrested in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta in November. Crumpton said that this showed that Pakistan is working to arrest al Qaida leaders.

Pakistan has also launched repeated counterterrorism operations in its lawless tribal regions close to the Afghan border over the past two years, in which hundreds of militants and soldiers have died.

“Our expectation is that they will continue to make progress, and we know that it’s difficult,” he said.

Pakistan “can’t remain a safe haven for enemy forces, and right now parts of Pakistan are indeed that.”

Crumpton said US officials continue to believe that al Qaida leader bin Laden is somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border, and more likely on the Pakistani side.

“If we knew exactly where bin Laden was, we’d go get him,” Crumpton said. “But we’re very confident he’s along the Pakistan-Afghan border somewhere,” he said.

He added that there was a “higher probability” bin Laden was hiding on the Pakistan side.