Is Pakistan risking creating a bin-Laden sanctuary?

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08 Sep 2006

Pakistan risks creating al Qaeda, Taliban sanctuary

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Five years after President Pervez Musharraf bowed to U.S. pressure to withdraw support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, his government has signed a peace deal with Pakistani Taliban.

Critics fear the treaty signed in the tribal area of North Waziristan on Tuesday could create a refuge for the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies, so long as they don't cause trouble too close to home.

"I think it is a blow. Whether we like it or not, it has set up a safe haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban," said Ahmed Rashid, a respected Pakistani journalist and author of "Taliban".

Bush said he doesn't see the deal giving safe haven to militants who might be hiding in tribal lands.

"I don't read it that way," Bush said in an interview on Thursday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP139807.htm


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