Pakistan rejects US remarks on al-Qaeda, Taleban

Pakistan on May 7 angrily rejected remarks by a senior US security official that Islamabad was not doing enough to help flush out Taleban and al-Qaeda leaders from its territory. State Department coordinator for counter-terrorism Henry Crumpton said during a May 6 meeting with President Hamed Karzai in Kabul that most of the Taleban and al-Qaeda leadership had found safe haven in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt bordering on Afghanistan. Pakistani army spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan condemned the remarks, saying, “He Crumpton came here and met Pakistani officials and praised Pakistan’s role in the war on terror. He did not mention these things.”