Sun Feb 22, 5:20 PM ET
By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
George Tenet, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, made a secret trip to Pakistan earlier this month to share new information about previously undetected mountainous routes along the Afghan border used by members of al-Qaeda, senior Pakistani officials said.
Mr Tenet's talks with Pakistan's military and intelligence officials could be the basis for a new anti-terrorist operation which was under way on Sunday for hunting down members of al-Qaeda, a senior Pakistani official said. "There's a major effort under way to locate al-Qaeda leaders," the official said. "The importance of George Tenet's visit in this connection cannot be underestimated."
Neither the US nor the Pakistani government have publicly confirmed Mr Tenet's visit. But in interviews with the Financial Times, Pakistani officials said Mr Tenet spent a day in Pakistan mainly discussing the government's handling of recent investigations into rogue nuclear scientists accused of selling nuclear knowhow to other countries. Mr Tenet also talked about plans for a new operation along the Afghan border, the officials said.
Pakistani officials have ordered troops already deployed along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan to search suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in remote villages, especially across the Waziristan area near the Durand line marking the border between the two countries.
Last week, Lieutenant General David Barno, the top US general in Afghanistan, said that efforts by Pakistan, along with a change in US tactics in Afghanistan, would create a "hammer and anvil" effect, ultimately trapping al-Qaeda fighters between Pakistani forces and US troops.
In the past two months, senior Pakistani officials have held several meetings with chiefs of tribes in the mountainous areas, threatening to destroy their homes if they give refuge to any al-Qaeda member.
Last week, a senior Pakistani official said the government had promised that if Pakistani tribesmen surrendered al-Qaeda members voluntarily, they would not be extradited. In the past, Pakistan has handed over to the US at least 600 militants who were subsequently flown to the US military's detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Western diplomats said there appeared to be new urgency in Washington to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members ahead of this year's US presidential election.
"Iraq has brought no joy for Bush. He (Bush) is certain to be attacked for his foreign policy failures" said one western diplomat. "If Osama is found dead or alive, Bush's record then begins to look respectable."