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Taliban, Al Qaeda plotting within Pakistan

Virtually the entire senior leadership of the Al Qaeda and Taliban are operating with as many as 1,000 fighters to disrupt the selection of a new national government in Kabul next month, the New York Times quoted the commander of the American-led forces in Afghanistan as saying.

Major General Franklin L Hagenbeck said intelligence reports indicated that the Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders were plotting terrorist attacks, including car and suicide bombings in Afghanistan.

He estimated that 100 to 1,000 non-Afghan Al Qaeda fighters, including Chechens, Uzbeks and Uighurs from western China, were in the Pakistani tribal areas.

"We know that they are there and have a capability to do harm to this country," General Hagenbeck added.

Northwestern Pakistan, which is heavily populated by Pashtuns -- the ethnic group from which the Taliban came -- is a semiautonomous region that has long been hostile to attempts by the central government to police, regulate or tax it, the NYT said.

However, General Hagenbeck said he did not expect the coalition forces to cross the border in pursuit of the fighters.

There have been reports from Pakistan that Osama bin Laden has been seen in the tribal areas as recently as last month.

In his remarks, General Hagenbeck was sending the message widely held in Washington that it is up to Pakistan to move more aggressively against the Al Qaeda forces, the paper added.

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