CIA says border region 'clear and present danger' to US
WASHINGTON - The situation in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan where Al Qaeda has established a haven presents a "clear and present danger" to the West, the CIA director said yesterday.
Michael Hayden cited the belief by intelligence agencies that Osama bin Laden is hiding there in arguing that the United States has an interest in targeting the border region. If there were another terrorist attack against Americans, Hayden said, it would most certainly originate from that region.
"It's very clear to us that Al Qaeda has been able for the past 18 months or so to establish a haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border area that they have not enjoyed before, and that they're bringing in operatives into the region for training," he said.
Hayden added that those operatives "wouldn't attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles [Airport, outside Washington] with you when you're coming back from overseas - who look Western."
Washington has sought reassurance that Pakistan's new coalition government will keep the pressure on extremist groups using the country's lawless northwest frontier as a springboard for attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.
Over the weekend, Pakistan's new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, pledged to make the fight against terrorism his top priority. But he said peace talks and aid programs could be more effective than weapons in fighting militancy in tribal areas along the Afghan border.
It was the new government's latest rebuke of President Pervez Musharraf's military tactics, which many Pakistanis believe have led to a spike in domestic attacks.
Yesterday, Hayden declined to comment on reports that the United States might be escalating unilateral strikes against Al Qaeda members and fighters operating in Pakistan's tribal areas out of concern that the pro-Western Musharraf's influence might be waning. Hayden only would say that Pakistan's cooperation in the past has been crucial to US efforts to stem terrorism there.
"The situation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border presents clear and present danger to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the West in general, and United States in particular," he said.
Hayden spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."
