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The United States believes that the Al Qaeda leadership is based in Pakistan's volatile tribal region along the Afghanistan border, and is working with both Islamabad and Kabul to rein in the terror network flourishing in that safe haven, a top American military official has said.
During a Fox News programme, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said Washington is aware that top Al Qaeda commanders were operating from Pakistan.
"We're very concerned about that part of the world. We are very concerned about -- that's where the Al Qaeda leadership lives. We know that. And we're working with Pakistan and, quite frankly, with Afghanistan to continue to put pressure on that leadership. And I wouldn't speak to any kind of details in terms of either plans or operations," Admiral Mullen said.
However, Pakistani daily Dawn quoted sources in Washington as saying that Islamabad had agreed to launch a military operation in North Waziristan and other militant hideouts.
US National Security Adviser James Jones and Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta had visited Pakistan earlier in May, in the wake of a failed bombing attempt at Times Square in New York by Pakistani American Faizal Shahzad.
The top security officials reportedly urged the Pakistani leadership to launch an operation in North Waziristan, where Shahzad had undergone bomb-making training. Several terror training camps are located in the restive area and top militant leaders have also sought refuge there.
Jones and Panetta met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The two sides decided that the Pakistan army will launch an assault on North Waziristan -- after flushing out militants from the restive provinces of Swat and South Waziristan last year -- according to the Dawn.
According to the report, the US administration will allow Islamabad decide the specifics of the operation -- when to launch it, what weapons to use, the strength of the troops etc.
While media reports earlier this week said that the US military is reviewing plans to launch an 'unilateral' attack on Pakistan in case any terror attack on America is traced back to that country, Mullen said he is more focused on helping Islamabad dismantle the terror network flourishing on its soil.
Mullen praised the Pakistan army for flushing out militants from the country's north-western regions, but pointed that the military is struggling to hold onto the areas taken back from militants.
"I am impressed how much Pakistan has evolved over the last couple of years. They have lost a significant number of troops. They've regained a significant amount of their territory. They are very focused on that. They are struggling in building behind the security that they created, particularly in the western areas," he said.
Additional inputs from ANI