By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Al Qaeda terrorists are regrouping in the "safe havens" of Pakistan's tribal areas, warned a new report from the US intelligence community even as Washington pledged support in upgrading Islamabad's military capabilities.
Although most of Al Qaeda's top leadership before Sep 11, 2001, has been killed or captured, a new generation of less experienced lieutenants has come up the ranks as replacements and found safe haven in the tribal region straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to declassified key findings of the National Intelligence Estimate.
It is encouraging Sunni militants to follow its example across the Middle East, and remains focused on efforts to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons for use in future attacks, said the report representing the consensus of top 16 US intelligence agencies Tuesday.
As the report was made public, Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, said the Pakistani government's handling of the armed revolt at Islamabad's Red Mosque showed decisive action against extremism.
He also pointed to recent arrests of Taliban fighters and the return of government forces to Pakistan's tribal areas as evidence that the government is serious about fighting violent militancy.
Boucher said Al Qaeda has exploited the September 2006 Waziristan Agreement and expanded its operations in the tribal areas. Under that agreement, the government drew down its forces in the area with the understanding that the tribal elders would protect the region against infiltration from Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.
Boucher said, however, that Al Qaeda took advantage of the reduced government presence to meet, plan, recruit and obtain financing in the tribal areas.
The official said some military action would be necessary. "There are elements in these areas that are extremely violent and are out to kill government people, government leaders and will not settle for a peaceful way forward."
Boucher said as the power of the tribal elders had diminished in recent decades with the rise of extremist forces and responsible authority was needed in those areas.
To build the Pakistani military's capacity to control extremist activity in these regions, Boucher said the US would help Pakistan train and equip its Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of people mostly from tribal areas that is led by Pakistan army officers.
He said the United States would also provide $750 million over the next five years to support the Pakistani government's Tribal Areas Sustainable Development Plan. The plan calls for new industrial infrastructure, institution building, training and education to provide job opportunities and integrate the areas into the national economy.
Boucher said he did not know whether the government would be able to rely on the tribal elders to support these plans, but, "one would hope that the tribal leaders in this area would look for development, would look for stability, would look for opportunity for their people and therefore would look to expel the foreigners, stop the Talibanization and stop the cross-border activity" of militants passing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was serious about fighting violent extremism and terror. "So we are going to continue to support him in his efforts."
At a separate briefing White House spokesperson Tony Snow said the US has been continuously working with Musharraf and "we're going to do what we can to try to strengthen his hand in whatever he needs".
"We have devoted considerable resources to helping him beef up capabilities and presence within the federally administered tribal areas, which are very tough," he added.