No Terror Training Camps in Pakistan, Ambassador Says

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2007— -- The Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, today vehemently denied recent reports that a resurgent Al Qaeda is operating terror training camps with renewed vigor in the rugged and lawless mountains of Northern Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan.

"Overall, what has been projected in the last two to three days is a gross exaggeration that there are camps sitting in Pakistan," Durrani said in a one-on-one interview with ABC News.

"There may be a camp or two, but when we find them, in joint operations with the U.S., we take them out," he added, citing two cases in which Pakistani forces raided camps suspected of being terror training facilities.

Last week President Bush said, "Taliban and al Qaeda figures do hide in remote regions of Pakistan."

While Durrani said that al Qaeda had been resurgent in the region, he denied that Pakistan was a staging ground for the terrorist group to rebuild its network, saying that its presence in Afghanistan posed a greater risk.

"It [al Qaeda] has re-emerged in the region stronger than it was last year," he said. "There may be some in Pakistan, but there are many, many more in Afghanistan."

He admitted, however, that refugee camps, which were set up in Pakistan after Afghanistan's war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s but still exist today, are "breeding grounds for terrorists."

Who Is Responsible for Resurgence?

Durrani faults Afghanistan for failing to provide enough troops to secure the border and prevent terrorists from taking root, something he says that Pakistan has done.

Monday The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that al Qaeda's networks in Pakistan have been able to reorganize themselves and have rebounded after their ouster from Afghanistan following the 2001 U.S. invasion.

The State Department today would not confirm the reports, saying they could not comment on intelligence matters, but deputy spokesman Tom Casey did say that "we continue to be concerned, as you know, about cross border activities from Pakistan to Afghanistan."

The ambassador denied that a deal reached last fall between Pakistan and tribal leaders in the border region of North Waziristan, where these camps are purported to be, is responsible for the uptick in al Qaeda's operational ability. Critics of the deal say it allows terrorists to operate more freely by removing much of the oversight from Pakistan's military.

"We knew right from the beginning there would be people who would be spoilers who would try to destroy the deal," he said. "When we have found them, we hit them."

Durrani argued that the deal has freed the Pakistani military to concentrate on securing the border with Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan's intelligence in the region has improved since the deal was agreed to.

Durrani trumpeted Pakistan's overall efforts in the war on terror, saying his country has devised a long-term strategy for defeating not only terrorism but the extremism he says breeds terrorists.

The State Department also defended Pakistan's efforts. "We do believe that President Musharraf and his government are committed to fighting terror and to working with us," Casey said.

"However, it's very clear to all of us that we and the government of Pakistan and the government of Afghanistan all need to do more since the problem is out there and it is continuing," he added, a challenge that the Pakistani ambassador seconded today.

Creating a Secure Border

Pakistan announced recently its plans to build a fence along key sections of its border with Afghanistan. Durrani told ABC News that Pakistan will look for additional ways to secure the border, including use of "mines and other technology" that would be controlled and monitored, perhaps electronically.

When asked about reports that Pakistan's armed forces have been sympathetic to the extremist Taliban, Durrani denied any such broad allegiance by the military. "We cannot deny there may be some [sympathy for the Taliban] in the lower ranks," he said, but rejected the notion that there was such sympathy "at the major levels."

Durrani adamantly denied that al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, was hiding in Pakistan, echoing previous comments from Pakistani officials.

"If we knew [where he was] we would have captured him long ago," he said. "Nobody knows where he is, it doesn't speak too well of your [U.S.] intelligence or our intelligence."

When asked where he thinks bin Laden might be hiding, Durrani said he was likely in Afghanistan. "He is where the battle is, the battle is not in Pakistan, the battle is in Afghanistan," he said.

U.S. officials have long suspected that bin Laden is hiding in the mountainous region on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Last week Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a testimony on Capitol Hill, was asked where bin Laden was hiding. "I don't know where he is," she replied.

Durrani said that bin Laden may be crossing the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan but warned that if bin Laden were to come to Pakistan, "he'll get caught very fast. … We wouldn't blink an eyelid."