Washington, Aug 15 (IANS) Capturing or killing Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is still a priority for the US, General David Petraeus, commander of the US and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, says.
Bin Laden ‘remains an iconic figure and I think capturing or killing is still a very, very important task for all of those who are engaged in counter-terrorism around the world’, Xinhua reported Sunday quoting Petraeus as saying on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ programme.
He said bin Laden is probably in an extremely remote mountainous area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it took him several weeks to send out ‘a congratulatory message out or a message of condolence’.
In the same interview, Petraeus also said the timetable of US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan will be driven by situation on the ground.
‘Certainly, I am aware of the context within which I offer that advice,’ Petraeus said, ‘But that just informs the advice; it doesn’t drive it. The situation on the ground drives it.’
US President Barack Obama has set July 2011 as a deadline to begin withdrawing troops. Petraeus said the challenge now is to demonstrate signs of progress.
Petraeus, who previously served as head of the US Central Command, assumed command of US Forces in Afghanistan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan last month.
