China vows to work with international community to eliminate al-Qaeda threat

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - A new terror video has surfaced showing an al-Qaeda terrorist waving a giant razor-sharp blade and vowing to achieve a victory for Islam over British and US troops in Afghanistan. The Sun quoted a military source, as saying: "If anyone needed reminding, this is the face of the enemy." In the video posted on a terrorist website, 'Abu Askar the German,' brandishes the knife that could behead or dismember any hostage his terror group grabs.

October 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has vowed to continue targeting the Al Qaeda that is threatening the US from Pakistan and beyond, even as the terror network is said to have "lost operational capacity" after a series of recent missile strikes. "We know that Al Qaeda and its extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe-from Pakistan but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia; from Europe and the Gulf," Obama said in a visit Tuesday to the National Counterterrorism Centre just outside Washington in McLean, Virginia.

September 25th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - US President Barack Obama has said that militants based on Pakistani soil pose a serious security threat not only to Pakistan and the region, but also to the United States and the whole world. Addressing a meeting of the 26-member Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP), Obama highlighted that America and Pakistan were facing a 'common threat'.

September 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Director Leon Panetta has said that the agency's operation against Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan has been 'very successful'. Panetta said the CIA was establishing more bases in Afghanistan as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were constantly expanding their network, and added that the influence of these outfits was also on the rise.

September 10th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said he believes that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is dead. In an interview with the BBC, Zardari said: "It seems as if Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Ladin is no longer alive." Zardari reiterated that democracy was working well in Pakistan, and the government is determined to fight extremism and root out militancy from the country's soil.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's 'double game' and its undercover relationship with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda helped Osama-bin-Laden escape the allied forces and prevented him from being nabbed, The Times online reports. Pakistan's connection with al-Qaeda dates back to 1980's when the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) helped the CIA to supply arms, ammunition and financial help to bin- Laden and other members of the Mujahideen resistance against Soviet forces.

August 3rd, 2009 LAHORE - British Members of Parliament in a report have claimed that the threat of al Qaeda and international terrorism can be more properly said to be emanating from Pakistan. Professor Shaun Gregory, an expert on Pakistan at Bradford University, also told the committee that a direct attack on Pakistan's nuclear weapons infrastructure by the Taliban could not be ruled out.

July 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Terming the Pakistan Army's offensive against the Taliban and other extremist groups in Swat and Malakand Divisions of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) as "unprecedented", US President Barack Obama has said Pakistan is seriously trying to reassert its control in the lawless region. In an interview with a private television channel, Obama said it was the first time the Pakistan Army has directly countered threat posed by the extremists.

July 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has once again highlighted that Pakistan is a terror safe haven and said that Al-Qaeda's leadership is based in that country. Clinton's comments came a day before her significant visit to India, where she will be meeting the country's leadership.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - International terror group Al Qaeda's North African wing has threatened to attack Chinese workers in Africa in revenge for deaths of Uighurs during the ethnic clashes in Xinjian province, according to a media report Tuesday. The Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it would target the 50,000 Chinese who are working in Algeria and launch attacks against other Chinese projects in Northern Africa, the Telegraph reported, quoting London-based risk analysis company Stirling Assynt.

July 14th, 2009 LONDON - In a bid to avenge the deaths of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, Al-Qaeda's North African wing has threatened to target Chinese workers in Africa. The threat from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) comes in the wake of race riots in far West China which claimed the lives of at least 136 Han Chinese and 46 Uighurs, The Telegraph reports.

July 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has ruled out any negotiations with the Taliban until it lays down arms and severe all its ties with Al-Qaeda. When enquired about the statement of the Pakistan Army's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, that the Pakistan military can bring the Taliban to the discussion table with the United States, the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said such a possibility can only occur when the Taliban 'repudiates al-Qaeda publicly'.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta said Thursday that Osama bin Laden, head of Al Qaeda terrorist network, is still in Pakistan and his capture remains the CIA's priority. "I guess one of our hopes is that as Pakistani military moves in, combined with our operations, we may have a better chance to get at him," said Panetta at the Capitol Hill.

May 2nd, 2009 KARACHI - A majority of Pakistani civilians are of the view that the presence of allied forces led by the United States poses a bigger threat to them rather than the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. According to an annual assessment report of Pakistan issued by an US think tank, Centre for American Progress, more Pakistanis consider US presence in Asia as a threat to their country.

March 31st, 2009 BEIJING - China declared Tuesday that it desired mutually beneficial cooperation with India and it posed no threat to New Delhi. 'The leaders of China and India have already reached consensus that the two countries will not pose a threat to each other,' Xinhua quoted foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang as telling reporters here.