Brown calls on Pakistan 'to act'
Gordon Brown has sent a tough challenge to Pakistan to step up action against the al Qaida terror network and "take out" its leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri.
In television interviews, the PM made little attempt to hide his frustration at Pakistan's failure, eight years after the September 11 attacks in the USA, to track down the men responsible, who are believed to be hiding out in the north of the country.
He called on Pakistan's army and security services, as well as the country's political leaders, to take al Qaida on directly in the tribal areas of South Waziristan near the Afghan border and not only isolate but "break" the terror network.
Some 30,000 Pakistani troops have been sent to South Waziristan as part of a drive to take on the Taliban in Pakistan, but Mr Brown made clear he wants them also to target the leadership of al Qaida, who have evaded international forces since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Mr Brown told the BBC: "The Pakistan Government has started to take on the Taliban and to take on al Qaida in South Waziristan, but we have got to ask ourselves why, eight years after September 11, nobody has been able to spot or detain or get close to Osama bin Laden, nobody has been able to get close to Zawahiri, the number two of al Qaida."
