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This is an archive article published on May 7, 2011

Musharraf rejected Afghan info on Osama

They told Pakistan Osama was hiding in Manshera,near Abbottabad

Former Pakistan president Prevez Musharraf angrily rejected a lead provided by Afghanistan on al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden that he was hiding in an area close to Abbottabad four years ago,Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief has said.

Agents of the National Directorate of Security (NDS),Afghanistan’s intelligence service,worked out that Osama must be inside Pakistan proper,rather than the semi-autonomous tribal areas,as early in 2004,Amrullah Saleh was quoted as saying by the Guardian. They told Pakistan Osama was hiding in Manshera,near Abbottabad.

Recounting a meeting between Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai,the report said,the Pakistani president became furious and smashed his fist on the table.

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“He said,‘Am I the president of the Republic of Banana?’” Saleh recalled. “Then he turned to President Karzai and said,‘Why have you have brought this Panjshiri guy to teach me intelligence?’” He said Karzai had to intervene as Musharraf.

Saleh also said he had no doubts Mullah Omar,the leader of the Taliban,was hiding in a safe house owned by the ISI in Karachi. “He is protected by ISI,General Pasha knows as I am talking to you where is Mullah Omar,” he said.

‘ISI chief may quit over Osama op’

Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha may step down in the wake of criticism over the US killing Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad,according to a media report Friday. Pasha may quit as the Pakistan government “looks for a fall guy for the Osama debacle”,unnamed senior officials were quoted as saying by The Daily Beast.

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