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Musharraf: Bin Laden 'most likely' alive
By Wolf Blitzer
Washington (CNN) -- A year ago, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf believed Osama bin Laden was probably dead. But he's changed his view since then. "More talk says that he's alive," the president tells me. That talk, Musharraf says, includes intercepted communications of bin Laden's aides. "They're technical intercepts, communication intercepts, are all very authentic." Like top U.S. officials, Musharraf suspects bin Laden is somewhere along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. "If he's moving with a large body of people, security people around him, he'll be in Afghanistan. If he's moving with a small group, he could be on the Pakistani side in the tribal area." That so-called tribal area is rugged and remote -- virtually inaccessible -- and very dangerous. Only now are Pakistani forces daring to move in. "On our side, we have entered an area where for over a century nobody has entered." The president says Pakistan is aggressively pursuing bin Laden via every means possible. "We are there. We have got a total complete operation in place, integrated operation on the technical side, intelligence side, and also the capability of force being able, fast, quick reaction force, being available." And while President Musharraf believes bin Laden is most likely still alive, he is not under the impression that the al Qaeda mastermind has begun to regroup. "My judgment is that al Qaeda is on the run. They are dispersed. They are transiting maybe. And they are hiding. They don't have a potential -- they don't have command and control capability of regrouping for any kind of major organized operation." Of the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, which experts say have the fingerprints of al Qaeda, the Pakistani leader says, "Possible. But as I said, from our region, I'm talking of only our region, Afghanistan and Pakistan, here, they are not at all organized."
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