Laden is alive, says Afghan warlord Hekmatyar

October 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said the United States may be aware about Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's present location. Interacting with media persons in Washington, Qureshi said the US troops, engaged in a gruesome battle in Afghanistan, are equipped with sophisticated, state of art technology and weapons hence they may be aware about Laden's whereabouts.

October 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States has reiterated that top Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar are hiding in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan and carrying out their nefarious activities from there. Interacting with media persons here, Deputy Chief of the Mission, US Embassy, Gerald Feierstein said Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was alive and has taken refuge in Pakistan.

September 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has said that Islamabad is reluctant to target Taliban leaders present on its soil despite repeated appeals by America in this regard. In an interview with a US daily, Patterson said even after eight years of Pakistan agreeing to support the US in its war against the Al-Qaeda and Taliban, Islamabad, it appears, has 'different priorities' from the US.

September 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A purported new message from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has appeared on an Islamist website which has been used for such messages in the past, according to the US Intel-Centre which monitors such websites. It said the audio message, lasting 11 minutes and 20 seconds, was addressed to the American people and was accompanied by a still picture of bin Laden.

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 10th, 2009 LONDON - : Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has urged the United States to hand over the unmanned drone aircrafts to Pakistan so that it could carry out the offensive against the extremists on its own rather than relying on foreign countries. In an interview with a private television channel, Musharraf said the war against terrorism was not only in Washington's interest but in the interest of Islamabad also.

September 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - One of the deadliest insurgent groups in Afghanistan is in contact with Western officials and politicians "to find a solution to the Afghan problem", one of its senior leaders said in an exclusive interview. The Hizbi Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is led by Afghan warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has been in hiding for the last seven years.

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 17th, 2009 KABUL - Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the world's and Afghanistan's most wanted warlords, has said that he will not enter into any peace talks while foreign troops remain in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar, who was once Afghanistan's prime minister and now leads the Hezb-e-Islami political party and a paramilitary group in Afghanistan, told Sky News in an interview that: "The important issue for us is to end the occupation and re-establish the country's sovereignty.

July 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - British High Commissioner to Pakistan Sir Robert Brinkley has claimed that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin-Laden, Qaeda's second man in command Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Taliban chief Mullah Omar are hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions. Talking to media persons here, Brinkley asked Pakistan to act against the outlawed outfit and help the allied forces to nab bin-Laden as soon as possible.

July 28th, 2009 NEW YORK - Rahimullah Yousafzai, the only reporter to interview Osama bin Laden still believes the head of the Al Qaeda terror network is alive, even though many, including Pakistan's late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have or had pronounced him dead in separate interviews post 9/11. According to CBS, Al Qaeda has issued more than 60 messages since 9/11.

July 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's military has offered to play a broker between the US and the Taliban, but in return it wants concessions from Washington over Islamabad's concerns with India, according to CNN. Pakistan military spokesman Maj.

July 4th, 2009 KABUL - Thirty-two militants and a foreign soldier were killed in fighting in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province Saturday, officials said. The foreign soldier was killed when a militant detonated his explosives-laden car near a security forces' headquarters in Zirok district at around 6.30 a.m., spokesman of the provincial government Hamidullah Zhawak said.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that his country's intelligence believes that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, but they have no proof to back their claims. "The Americans tell me they don't know, and they are much more equipped than us to trace him.

April 18th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The United States based Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) (Hekmatyar) stalwart Daud Abidi has confirmed holding meetings with high-ranking American officials and handing over a letter of Engineer Hekmatyar addressed to US President Barack Obama. "Yes, I held three meetings with high ranking US authorities," Daud Abidi remarked in a telephonic conversation with The Nation on Friday.