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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2070422,00.htmlYou must penetrate Al-Qaeda, Bush tells Musharraf
Dean Nelson, Islamabad
PRESIDENT George W Bush yesterday warned General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military leader, that he must improve his intelligence-gathering to defeat Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the war on terror. His comments were made amid concern that Islamabad’s grip on the militants within Pakistan’s borders may be loosening.
On the last leg of his Asian tour, the American president reiterated his support for Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999, but urged him to embrace democracy in the campaign against terrorism.
“The best way to defeat Al-Qaeda is to share good intelligence, to locate them and then be prepared to bring them to justice,” Bush said.
Despite the evident strains in the Washington-Islamabad relationship, Bush told Musharraf that the two countries had developed “a broad and lasting” strategic partnership.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in defeating Al-Qaeda,” the president said.
The contentious issue of sharing intelligence was highlighted in January, when an American missile aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, killed at least three foreign militants and a number of civilians in a Pakistani border village. Pakistan claimed it had received no notice of the attack, which prompted countrywide riots.
Many Pakistanis continue to oppose Musharraf’s alliance with the Bush administration and yesterday’s visit provoked days of demonstrations.