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Musharraf Warns al-Qaeda 'Regrouping'
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
(07:23 GMT) (08:23 UK)
The BBC

Musharraf said the presence of coalition forces should be extended.
Image Credit: The Associated Press.

General Rashid Qureshi stated that US forces had merely failed to conduct more thorough searches of Afghanistan's "very difficult terrain", and said that not being able to find them "doesn't mean they are not there."

BBC
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has warned that Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network could be regrouping in Afghanistan because of weaknesses in the country's transitional government.

His comments come a day after Pakistan military spokesman General Rashid Qureshi rejectedUS military assessments that as many as 1,000 al-Qaeda members may be on Pakistani territory.

Speaking to the AFP news agency, the Pakistani president said that "the writ of this Afghan Government is not spreading all over Afghanistan, which it should have."

"This is tribal country, tribal environment, warlords reigning supreme in various pockets," he said.

"The same Taleban-cum-al-Qaeda groups may be re-grouping again, because this [Afghan] Government does not exercise control."

* Leadership scattered
* Seeking shelter
* Coalition forces
(More: BBC Online News Source)
2002 © The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan