Osama in Pak tribal belt: US diplomat
ISLAMABAD: Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is alive and based in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan but his ability to carry out terrorist attacks has been "significantly limited", a top US diplomat said on Thursday.
Gerald M Feierstein, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy here, also said that top Taliban leaders operating from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, including Mullah Omar, are playing a key role in fomenting unrest in Afghanistan.
About bin Laden, he said the world's most wanted terrorist was alive and based in the tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Al-Qaeda chief's ability to carry out terrorist activities had been "significantly limited" and he did not appear to have day-to-day command over operations by militants, Feierstein told a group of Pakistani journalists.
“However, Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives continue to draw inspiration from bin Laden,” he said. Feierstein said the US has information that the "command centre" of the Quetta 'Shura' or council of the Taliban, comprising commanders from the erstwhile militant regime that ruled Afghanistan, is based in the suburbs of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Mullah Omar is among the Taliban leaders based in Quetta, Feierstein said.
Feierstein's comments came hours after Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Mullah Omar was not based in Balochistan.
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