Washington, Some elements in the Pakistan government know the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warning it against keeping a "poisonous" snake in its backyard. Clinton also said the Pakistanis leadership during her visit to Islamabad has been told to take on every non-governmental armed force inside the country.
The US' top diplomat said Pakistan's intelligence establishment must share with the US any information about movement of bin Laden and al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. "I want those guys. I will not be satisfied until we get them," she said in interviews to American TV channels during her just concluded visit to Islamabad. "...I assume somebody, somebody in this government, from top to bottom, does know where bin Laden is. And I'd like to know too .
So I think we've got to keep pressure on, which we are doing," Clinton said. I don't want to put a proximity or timeline on it (getting bin Laden). As I've said, we have gotten closer because we have been able to kill a number of their trainers, their operational people, their financiers," Clinton told Fox News channel.
She said the US and international forces were getting closer to the fugitive. "But I won't be satisfied until we get it done."
"I think elements in the government do (know the whereabouts of bin Laden). I've said that before. But I think it is also important to know we have been getting with Pakistani cooperation a lot of the top leadership of Al Qaeda," she said.
Referring to Pakistan taking up the fight against militant groups, Clinton told another TV channel that there were arguments put forward by Islamabad that how many fights that they can take on with various groups.
To this, Clinton said she had told the Pakistani leadership "look, you've got to take on every non-governmental armed force inside your country, because even though you think they won't bother you today, there is no guarantee. Its like keeping a poisonous snake in your backyard.
"Oh, it will only go after the stranger or intruder, You don't know whether tomorrow it will go after you, so we have been making that case and I find greater receptivity to it, but we still have to make it stronger," she said in an another interview in MSNBC on the same topic.
"We haven't gotten bin Laden or Zawahiri, but we've consistently been able to track and kill a lot of their principal leadership. So there is a story to be told here. It's not yet what I want it to be, because as having been a senator from New York on 9/11," she said.
On Pakistan's cooperation in the hunt, Clinton said, "I think that's because if I put myself into a position of leadership in our own government, and if there were a terrorist network operating somewhere, even in the most remote place in the United States, some sheriff, some local state policeman, somebody in our collective government would probably know that there was something suspicious going on," she said. PTI
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