Pakistani: No Evidence Attack Killed al Qaeda Leaders

Jan. 21, 2006 — -- U.S. officials hunting for Osama bin Laden believe he is hiding along the rugged Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where he likely recorded an audiotape that surfaced Thursday -- but Pakistan's prime minister disputes that assessment.

"There is no indication," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told ABC News' Kate Snow on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition." "I don't think it would be the correct assumption."

What's more, Aziz is skeptical that any important members of al Qaeda were killed in a recent U.S. air strike on the border region that targeted al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri. U.S. officials believe al Qaeda members died.

"I'm telling you as prime minister of Pakistan is that there's no tangible physical evidence," Aziz said.

U.S. officials hope to conduct DNA testing on physical remains from the site to determine who was killed -- though, officially, the United States is not allowed to conduct ground searches in Pakistan.

Aziz, who worked for years as an executive for Citibank and lived in New York, does not believe bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan.

"He's not in our neighborhood," Aziz said. "I don't think this is necessarily linked to Pakistan in any way."

The hunt for bin Laden includes an area along the Afghan border the size of Massachusetts. For years, tribal leaders sympathetic to the Taliban and al Qaeda have reigned in the rugged mountains with very little oversight from the Pakistani government. It's been compared to the Wild West.

But Aziz said 80,000 Pakistani troops patrol the region.

"We are controlling it," he said. "But as you know, when the terrain is as difficult as it is, there are many ways for these people to go back and forth."

A U.S. air strike in remote Pakistan earlier this month killed more than a dozen people, including women and children. Officials have said the targets were senior al Qaeda leaders gathering for a summit. But Aziz disputed that claim.

"I don't know if the nature of a movement like this needs summits," he said. "I think that, to me, my personal view is that would be most unlikely.

"That's not how these things happen," he added, dismissing even the idea of a "dinner party" of al Qaeda bigwigs. "It's not like you go and get invited, and everybody assembles. It seems a bit out of the ordinary."

The rocket attacks led to huge protests in Pakistan and condemnation from the Pakistani government.

Aziz said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other Pakistani officials had no knowledge ahead of time that an air strike was about to occur.

"Normally … presidents of countries don't get involved in individual operations," he said. "I think there was a general awareness of activity going on, but we were not specifically."

Aziz said he'll be discussing the rules of engagement with President Bush on Tuesday at the White House.

"Clearly, every country's sovereignty needs to be protected and safeguarded," Aziz said.