Bin Laden Is 'Planning' in Pakistan, Says US Official

Mullah Omar and his Taliban compatriots are running their insurgency from the Pakistani city of Quetta, while Osama bin Laden is operating in tribal areas of the country, says a US official. Bin Laden and right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri  are “planning” near the Afghanistan border, says the source, in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area, Reuters reports.

Despite such activity, said the unidentified official, the US still regards Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf as an able ally. Musharraf has proven his worth “both in terms of the degree to which his forces have taken on al-Qaeda in particular, and the extent to which we think he's doing quite well given the hand he was dealt,” said the official. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)