US claims Al-Qaeda, Taliban nexus in tribal area
Foreign Desk Report

WASHINGTON—Pakistan’s rugged tribal zones are the alleged hideout of Osama bin Laden and home to an array of militant factions — and if history is any judge, subduing them will be a bloody struggle. Three days of some of the deadliest clashes since the fall of neighbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban regime in 2001 have left around 200 militants and 45 soldiers dead, along with an unknown number of civilians.
Al-Qaeda has regrouped in the pine-dotted region, according to the United States, while militant sources say bin Laden’s son and possible successor, Hamza, has recently arrived there. At its heart is a nexus between mainly Arab Al-Qaeda agents and local tribesmen who either support the Taliban or directly take part in attacks on security forces in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A recent bout of militant infighting that claimed 300 lives in South Waziristan exposed some of the shadowy dealings in the region. Pakistani pro-Taliban rebels took on other militants led by a fugitive Islamist leader from Uzbekistan with ties to bin Laden in what amounted to a turf war.
Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network is still trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction including nuclear and biological arms, a new White House report on homeland security said Tuesday. “We also must never lose sight of Al-Qaeda’s persistent desire for weapons of mass destruction, as the group continues to try to acquire and use chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material,” it said.
The report, which called for redoubled anti-terror coordination at all levels of government, said Al-Qaeda remains “the most serious and dangerous manifestation” of threats against the United States. Since the September 11 attacks of 2001, the US-led “war on terror” has deprived the group of its safe haven in Afghanistan and degraded its capacity to strike, the evaluation said. Nevertheless, “the group has protected its top leadership, replenished operational lieutenants, and regenerated a safe haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas — core capabilities that would help facilitate another attack on the homeland.” The network masterminded by the Saudi-born billionaire bin Laden has proliferated into regional groups including an affiliate in Iraq that is “the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack us here.”
“Moreover, although we have discovered only a handful of individuals in the United States with ties to Al-Qaeda senior leadership, the group likely will intensify its efforts to place operatives here in the homeland”.
Al Qaeda remains the “most serious and dangerous” terrorism threat to the United States and is likely to intensify efforts to place operatives inside this country, a new White House report said on Tuesday.