Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari stated on Sunday that if his government were to capture Osama bin Laden he would consider handing him over to the United States. Zardari said: "I will go around with my friends and see what they wanted. If they want them tried in Pakistan we will try them in Pakistan. If they want them tried in New York, sure so be it".
Afghan president Hamid Karzai also modified an important aspect of his rhetoric on the "war on terrorism" for the first time since the 11 September attacks by withdrawing his claim that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. He maintained, however, that the al-Qaida leader was not in Afghanistan and had not been there since 2001. Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
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The toD verdict: Relations between Kabul and Islamabad under Pakistan's previous president - the disgraced Pervez Musharraf - were frosty at best. Karzai, in an interview with CNN, said that "with the current [Pakistani] democratic government, we have the possibility to work together". He hopes that Musharraf's replacement will be more cooperative in the fight against al-Qaida not only because of the great losses his country continues to suffer at the hands of militants but also because of the killing of Benazir Bhutto, Zardari's late wife, by Islamist assassins at the end of the last year.
Zardari's announcement regarding the potential custody of bin Laden hints at simmering tensions between the United States and Pakistan, stoked by incidents like last Thursday's exchange of fire between US and Afghan troops and Pakistani forces after two US helicopters were shot down near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Zardari warned the US not to carry out unilateral action inside his country, insisting that the Pakistani authorities were more capable of dealing with the terrorist threat. This was followed, on Monday, by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates's note-worthy response to a question in Senate when he argued that the US could take unilateral actions in Pakistan under international laws, saying that the US has every right to save the lives of its troops. Will this battle of rhetoric harden into more deadly confrontations?
Two policemen dead in Maoist attack
Suspected Maoist insurgents killed two policemen and injured five in a landmine blast in Bastar in central India on Monday. The landmines exploded near where the president, Pratibha Patil, was holidaying and has been described by the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh as a reminder of the grave threat Maoists continue to pose to the country's internal security. Maoists in India claim to be fighting for the rights of farmers and labourers and have killed thousands in an insurrection which dates back to the 1960s.
Nuclear security organisation set up in Vienna
A new organisation, the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), was set up in Vienna on 29 September with an aim to improve security at nuclear sites around the world and to prevent atomic theft and nuclear terrorism. The organisation was the initiative of Sam Nunn, who leads the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and it will focus on larger management issues rather than the nitty-gritty of cameras and locks. Its director is Roger Howsley, previously director of security for British Nuclear Fuels.
17 killed in Damascus bomb attack
Seventeen civilians were killed and 14 wounded on Saturday in the Syrian capital of Damascus in the bloodiest attack in Syria in two decades. A car packed with 200kg of explosives blew up near a security checkpoint on the road to Damascus airport, next to a Shia shrine which draws tens of thousands of pilgrims from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon each year to pray at the tomb of Zeinab, daughter of the Shia holy figure Imam Ali and granddaughter of the prophet. The attack has drawn worldwide condemnation, including from the United States, which has on numerous occasions accused Syria of fuelling unrest in Iraq.
Troops killed in Lebanon
Following the bomb attack in neighbouring Syria, a car bomb killed at least four people and injured around 30 more in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on 29 September. The bomb, controlled remotely, targeted a military bus in the Bahsas region. Most of the casualties were reported to have been soldiers. This explosion is the second bomb attack on Lebanese troops in Tripoli in two months; on 13 August, a bomb killed at least 18 people, including nine soldiers, as they boarded a bus. Tripoli has previously been the site of clashes between pro-government Sunni fighters and armed men from the pro-Syrian Alawite Shia sect, though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Clash with Pakistani troops kills 15 insurgents
An attack by government troops on a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold in Pakistan on Monday reportedly killed 15 militants. No mention was made of government casualties. The attack, which took place in the Bajaur region near the Afghan border, was part of an ongoing series of clashes between the military and insurgents which have been encouraged by the United States. Bajaur is the most northerly of Pakistan's wild tribal regions, one of many which have fallen under the control of militants opposed to the Afghan and Pakistani governments.
