Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published Sunday that the search for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold, with no recent intelligence indicating where he and his top lieutenants are hiding.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Musharraf insisted that Pakistani forces are still aggressively pursuing Osama Bin Laden. However, the Pakistani leader acknowledged that recent security force operations and interrogations have been able to determine only one fact - that bin Laden is still alive.
"He is alive, but more than that, where he is, no, it'll be just a guess and it won't have much basis," Musharraf said in an interview with the Post.
Asked on whether the trail had gone cold, he replied, "Yes, if you mean we don't know, from that point of view, we don't know where he is."
Washington shares major responsibility, Musharraf suggested, because the U.S.-led coalition does not have enough troops in Afghanistan, which has left "voids." The United States and its allies need to expedite the training and expansion of the new Afghan army as the only viable alternative, he said.
