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Pakistan sees Afghanistan rid of Al Qaeda in 10 years

* Musharraf says Pakistan has decimated Al Qaeda
* Says Al Libbi provided no information on Bin Laden’s whereabouts

CANBERRA: The militant Al Qaeda network should be dismantled and sustainable democracy achieved in Afghanistan within 10 years, allowing foreign troops to leave, President General Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday.

Musharraf said that a sustainable democracy with a central authority needed to be achieved in Afghanistan, its militia removed and a strong Afghan army created, before foreign troops could leave.

“All this is do-able in 10 years and I am very sure that the way we are going we will be able to dismantle the Al Qaeda organisation totally (within Afghanistan in 10 years),” Musharraf said during the first visit by a Pakistan president to Australia.

“I think in 10 years we should be able bring a semblance of democracy that is sustainable, ensuring the integrity of Afghanistan.” He said Pakistan was committed to the Bonn process and had contributed significantly to reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Afghanistan.

“We have provided unrestricted transit access to Afghanistan, and helped the country hold presidential elections last year” he said.

Musharraf said Al Qaeda’s back had been broken in Pakistan, where hundreds of Al Qaeda suspects have been arrested since 2001 and handed over to the United States.

“We have broken (Al Qaeda’s) cohesion, their lateral and vertical cohesion (in Pakistan). That’s a great achievement because they cease to exist as a homogenous body able to execute operations in a command and control environment,” Musharraf said.

Musharraf said that Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden was alive and probably living in the rugged mountains bordering Afghanistan. “Maybe he is in the border region in hiding wherever he sees a vacuum. It’s very easy for a person to hide,” he said. He said that Abu Farraj Al Libbi, Al Qaeda’s alleged number three who was captured in Mardan on May 2, had not provided information that could lead them to Bin Laden.

“No he didn’t give any information, and he still hasn’t. But he did divulge a lot of information which led to the arrest and apprehension of 14 other individuals,” he said. Musharraf defended his decision to hand Al Libbi to the United States as necessary for the war on terror, which his administration strongly supports.

“We thought that his being in the United States, deporting him there to gather more intelligence through interrogation would serve a better cause than holding him for trial here which has its own sensitivities in our environment,” he said.

President Musharraf urged Australia to help in the war on terror by investing in Pakistan. He said poverty alleviation was the key to long-term success in the fight against Al Qaeda and other terror groups. Australian investment in Pakistan would provide jobs and build industries, helping ease the poverty, which drives people into militant groups, he said.

Musharraf is expected to sign an agreement on counter-terrorism cooperation during a meeting with Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday. agencies

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