Warsaw, June 26: Afghan President Hamid Karzai today said that Osama bin Laden could be hiding along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and said cooperation with his country's eastern neighbour is "extremely important" to the global war against terrorism. Karzai spoke during a brief visit to Warsaw, where he thanked polish leaders for sending about 100 troops to Kabul as part of an international peacekeeping force. During a visit to Washington earlier this week, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suggested that bin Laden could well be hiding somewhere in tribal areas along his country's border with Afghanistan.
"My belief is that it's right," Karzai said at a news conference with polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski. "If Osama is alive and he's around our side, he should be somewhere there, on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan - sometimes crossing over there, sometimes crossing on our side."

Karzai welcomed the "success" of Musharraf's visit to Washington, during which US President George W Bush announced a USD three billion military and economic aid package to reward Pakistan for its help in the war on terror.
"Cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan in jointly combating terrorism is an extremely important contribution to fighting terrorism globally," he said. "We are happy to see this sort of commitment against terrorism from Pakistan.

Bureau Report