February 29, 2004
Report: Deal for U.S. to Hunt Bin Laden in Pakistan
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-pakistan-usa-report.html Filed at 1:10 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States has struck a deal with Pakistan to allow U.S. troops to hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this spring in an area of Pakistan where he is believed to be operating, the New Yorker magazine reported on Sunday.
Thousands of U.S. troops will be deployed in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan in return for Washington's support of President Pervez Musharraf's pardon of the Pakistani scientist who this month admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the issue that goes on sale on Monday.
Full disclosure of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's activities would have exposed him as ``the worst nuclear-arms proliferator in the world,'' an intelligence official is quoted as saying.
``It's a quid pro quo,'' according to a former senior intelligence official. ``We're going to get our troops inside Pakistan in return for not forcing Musharraf to deal with Khan.''
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