US snubs Pakistan, says the Osama hunt is on

A day after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said his intelligence believes that Osama bin Laden is dead, the United States today said it has no information on that and would continue to hunt for the most-wanted terrorist of the world.

The US intelligence agencies believe that Osama bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda, is hiding in the safe havens of the rugged mountainous border areas of Pakistan along with Afghanistan.

"We will continue to hunt Osama bin Laden until we can capture him or bring justice to him," the State Department Acting Spokesman, Robert Wood, told reporters at his daily press briefing when asked about the statement made by Zardari in this regard to foreign journalists.

"I have no information that indicates that Osama bin Laden is, you know, frankly, dead or alive," Wood said.
Zardari, during an interview with foreign journalists, yesterday said that his intelligence believed that Osama is dead. He, however, admitted that there was no proof for it.

Asked about reports that the Pakistani Army taking action against the militants in the tribal areas of the country, the spokesman reiterated the calls for Islamabad to take "very decisive" actions against the extremists.

"I think Pakistan understands the threat that it faces internally, and it's got to take steps to deal with it. We've been very clear on what we think Pakistan needs to do, and we're going to work with Pakistan, and not just Pakistan, but Afghanistan and other areas where these violent extremists are operating and trying to undermine fragile democracies," Wood said.

So whether it was the Secretary (of State) who influenced them or they just decided within their own national security interest to do so, I can't tell you the important thing is that they need to act further because these extremists are a threat to Pakistan as well as to the region," Wood said in response to another question.