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U.S. says al-Qaida rebuilds in Pakistan

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 28, 2007

WASHINGTON - The new director of national intelligence told Congress on Tuesday that senior leaders of al-Qaida were steadily rebuilding the network's bases inside Pakistan and that future attacks against the United States could be planned from Pakistan's remote western mountains.

In his first testimony since taking office last month, Mike McConnell said Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were supervising the establishment of al-Qaida camps in Pakistan similar to those that existed in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks, although he said the camps were not as fully developed as the former Afghan bases.

McConnell's appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee followed a succession of meetings between top U.S. officials and Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who officials in Washington have said is not doing enough to root out Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal areas.

"It's something we're very worried about and very concerned about," McConnell said.

A day earlier, the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, sidestepped questions about whether the White House was unhappy with Musharraf's government and reaffirmed President Bush's confidence in the Pakistani president.

The top intelligence officials assembled before the Senate panel on Tuesday issued a blunter assessment.

"We believe they could do more," said McConnell, who suggested that Musharraf could have had his eye on elections later this year when he pledged to keep Pakistani troops from carrying out military operations in the tribal areas.

Sitting beside McConnell, Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, described the border region as a "haven for al-Qaida's leadership." It is from that area, he said, that any future attacks against the United States by al-Qaida would most likely be planned.

Musharraf has said repeatedly that he has done everything in his power to root out Taliban and al-Qaida militants, but lawmakers on Tuesday were skeptical.

"Long-term prospects for eliminating the Taliban threat appear dim so long as the sanctuary remains in Pakistan," said the committee's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

[Last modified February 28, 2007, 01:33:13]