Pak officials aware of Osama’s whereabouts: Clinton

Mangalore Today News Network

United States, May 10: US has said that there are elements in Pakistan’s Administration who were more informed about Al-Qaeda and Taliban than they let on, as Washington for the first time accused Taliban for being behind the botched Times Square bombing plot.

"Some Pakistani officials were more informed about Al-Qaeda and Taliban than they let on", Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

"I’m not saying that they’re at the highest levels but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda is, where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is and we expect more cooperation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill, those who attacked us on 9/11," Clinton told CBS in an interview.

Asked if US was not getting sufficient cooperation from Islamabad in anti-terror drive, the Secretary of State while acknowledging though there was a "sea change" in cooperation by Pakistani authorities, but added "we want more".

When asked why Obama Administration was not piling up pressure on Islamabad to give up Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri, Clinton replied "I have to stand up for the efforts the Pakistani government is taking. They have done a very significant move toward going after the terrorists within their own country".

Her comments come as other senior US officials including Attorney General Eric Holder said they have obtained new evidence that Pakistani Taliban was behind the attempt to trigger a car bomb blast in the heart of New York.
"We know they facilitated the bomb plot and they probably also financed it", the Attorney General told ABC News.

Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old naturalised American citizen of Pakistani origin was arrested last Monday for rigging a SUV vehicle to explode in the Times Square.

As the new revelations raised fresh questions about US relationship with Pakistan, Washington has responded by stepping up pressure on Pakistan to crack down on radical Islamic militants safe havens in tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

New York Times said US military commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley A McChrystal met Pakistani military chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad yesterday and pressed for a new military offensive in North Waziristan, the main base of the Pakistan Taliban.