WASHINGTON (AFP) — More than six years after the September 11 attacks, the United States still does not have a coherent plan to destroy a key staging area for terrorist attacks into the country, according to an independent government watchdog.
There is "no comprehensive plan" to destroy the terrorist threat and close down the safe haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), said the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The vast, impoverished, mountainous and unpoliced FATA belt shares a border with Afghanistan and is regarded by Washington as a key sanctuary for top terrorists who masterminded the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
US officials have said that Al-Qaeda supremo Osama Bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar are believed seeking refuge in the tribal areas, a charge vehemently denied by Pakistan, a key US ally in the "war on terror."
The FATA is also seen as a staging area for Al-Qaeda attacks in support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where US and NATO troops have suffered heavy casualties battling a long drawn insurgency.
In addition, the report said the area was serving as a training center for new terrorist operatives to stage attacks in such areas as the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Officials from both the United States and Pakistan agreed that "Al-Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven in Pakistan's FATA," said the report from GAO, the audit and investigative arm of the US Congress.
It urged relevant US security authorities to develop a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the FATA terrorist threat.
"We believe that such a plan would help to ensure coordination, integration, and implementation of US efforts to close the terrorist safe haven in the FATA," it said.
The GAO findings gave immediate ammunition to Democrats, who control Congress, to slam the Bush administration.
"It is appalling that there is still no comprehensive, interagency strategy concerning this critical region, and this lack of foresight is harming US national security," said Democratic lawmaker Howard Berman, head of the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee.
"Clearly, a bold new plan is urgently needed," said Senate foreign relations committee chairman Joseph Biden.
He said he and virtually all Democratic Senators sent a letter to President George W. Bush last week cautioning him that "an Al-Qaeda attack on the US homeland would likely originate in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region."
"We urge you to work with Congress on a comprehensive new strategy to change course now, while time still remains," the letter said.
The Bush administration, Biden said, continued to deny congressional requests for details on some six billion dollars spent on "reimbursements" for Pakistani counterterrorism efforts.
Berman asked the administration to talk to the new civilian leadership in Pakistan to devise a "plan for victory over the extremist elements."
The GAO report said any comprehensive plan should place someone directly in charge of a multidepartment effort to improve accountability and articulate a clear strategy to destroy the FATA terrorist sanctuary.
The United States has provided Pakistan more than 10.5 billion dollars for military, economic, and development activities in the 2002-2007 period.
According to the US State Department, Pakistan deployed 120,000 military and paramilitary forces in the FATA and helped kill and capture hundreds of suspected Al-Qaeda operatives.
The operations had also left about 1,400 members of Pakistan's security forces dead.
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