Osama, al-Qaeda no longer Musharraf's priority

CNN/IBN
Wednesday January 23, 2008

New Delhi: Osama bin Laden is not Pakistan's priority any more says President Musharraf.

At a conference in Paris, which is the second leg of his European tour, Musharraf described the Taliban as the main threat to his regime.

He said close to 1 lakh Pakistani troops had been drafted to check the Taliban advance and related terror strikes by their affiliated groups.

As part of a multi-pronged strategy select areas of the Afghan border were being fenced and nearly 1000 checkpoints were being set up to monitor movement across the border.

Musharraf added that there was no way radical extremists like al Qaeda and the Taliban could gain control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.