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WAR ON TERRORISM: U.S.: Enemies Plot in Pakistan
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
By James Dao
New York Times

''We have information that the number of terrorists who are on the other side of the border in POK [are] people who have fled from Afghanistan, al-Qaida men and Talibanis.''

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- NYT
Bagram air base, Afghanistan --- Virtually the entire senior leadership of al-Qaida and the Taliban has been driven out of eastern Afghanistan and now is operating with as many as 1,000 non-Afghan fighters in the anarchic tribal areas of western Pakistan, the commander of American-led forces in Afghanistan said Monday.

The commander, Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, said in an interview that intelligence reports indicated that al-Qaida and Taliban leaders now in Pakistan were plotting terrorist attacks, including car and suicide bombings, to disrupt the selection of a new national government in Kabul next month.

"We know that they are there and have a capability to do harm to this country," Hagenbeck said. "Our job is to deny them the freedom of movement and sanctuary."
(More: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Source)
2002 © The New York Times.

Dan