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General: Pakistan aiding al Qaeda hunt

U.S. commander says finding bin Laden remains high priority

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Lt. Gen. David Barno reports Pakistani troops are trying to flush out al Qaeda and capture Osama bin Laden. CNN's Barbara Starr reports.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pakistan's recent clampdown along its border with Afghanistan could help crush the al Qaeda terrorist network, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

Pakistani troops are confronting tribal leaders along the Afghan frontier and destroying the homes of those who do not cooperate with them, Lt. Gen. David Barno told reporters at the Pentagon during a video news conference from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Barno said the hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remains a "very, very high priority" for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

But he seemed to back off a previous statement that the coalition would capture bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar this year, saying "there are no certainties in the war-fighting business out here."

"Fundamentally, there's still unfinished business in this part of the world," Barno said. "We're making every effort here during the coming months to close those efforts out."

U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan reportedly are planning a spring offensive against the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remaining in Afghanistan.

The Taliban religious militia ruled much of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until a coalition of U.S. and allied forces drove them from power in November 2001. The Taliban had given haven to al Qaeda before the attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York and Washington.

Barno would not discuss specifics, but "the sand in their hourglass is running out."

Bin Laden and Omar are believed to have taken refuge in the mountainous tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan.

Barno said Pakistani troops have made "a very serious effort" to assert their authority in the tribal regions in recent months.

"The fact that they are now there, that they've got a presence, that they're confronting the tribal elders, and they're holding them accountable for activities in their areas of influence is a major step forward," he said.

"And it's something that we're watching with great interest and with some cautious optimism it will have a positive effect."

He said U.S. and Pakistani forces are operating on each side of the border in hopes of producing "a hammer-and-anvil approach" in which Pakistan would drive al Qaeda fighters toward U.S. and Afghan forces across the frontier.

Barno said U.S. troops have shifted tactics in order to counter smaller-scale attacks by Taliban and other forces.

The attacks have targeted peacekeepers, aid workers and civilians "because they are essentially powerless to confront the coalition out here."

American units now will spend more time in the Afghan countryside and less in their bases, establishing ties with local leaders and the Afghan people.

"The units then ultimately get great depth of knowledge, understanding and much better intelligence access to the local people in those areas, by owning, as it were, those chunks of territory," Barno said.

"That's a fairly significant change in terms of our tactical approach out there on the ground."

He said U.S. troops and British, New Zealand and German forces have set up "provincial reconstruction teams" to provide security for aid workers.

A pilot "regional development zone" has been set up in Kandahar, once the Taliban's base of support, he said.


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