WikiLeaks: Musharraf believed bin Laden was in Bajaur

Leaked documents show Musharraf said bin Laden and Zawahiri may be in Pakistan, but not Mullah Omar.

Cables released by the WikiLeaks website reveal that former President Pervez Musharraf told John Mccain there was a possibility Osama Bin Laden and his deputy could be in Bajaur Agency.

The cable states that in a meeting in April 2007, Musharraf said that although he had no solid evidence, he believed al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri were in Bajaur Agency, since it was in the territory of Afghan militant leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and bordered Afghanistan's Kunar province. Musharraf had said that the landscape in bin Laden and Zawahiri's videos looked similar to Bajaur and that the area provided an easy hiding place with high mountains, positive support and an absence of US troops in neighbouring Kunar.

Musharraf had also voiced concern over Afghan President Hamid Karzai's pronouncements about Pakistan's alleged failure to capture Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar in Quetta. Musharraf was quoted in the memos reported on The Guardian as saying:

"Let me tell you, Omar would be mad to be in Quetta - he has too many troops to command in southern Afghanistan to make it feasible. In fact, the only parts of Balochistan where there are Pakistani Taliban are in the province's Afghan refugee camps, which we are planning to shut down. Musharraf said that most Pashtuns in Balochistan were traders and had no reason to join the Taliban. They want roads to increase their trade, not to fight. The same could not be said for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas."

Musharraf had said that the Taliban were mainly in Afghanistan where many Pashtuns had been alienated by Karzai's policies.