CIA paid Pakistan for catching al Qaeda - Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Sep 25 (Reuters) The CIA has paid Pakistan millions of dollars for catching al Qaeda fighters during the five years since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wrote in a memoir published today.

''We've captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. We've earned bounties totalling millions of dollars,'' wrote Musharraf, who elsewhere in his book titled ''In the Line of Fire'' described how the US administration persuaded him with threats to join a global 'war on terrorism'.

''Those who habitually accuse us of ''not doing enough'' in the war on terror should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan,'' Musharraf added, while ruing a failure to catch Osama bin Laden, who carries a 25 million dollars reward.

Hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters fled to Pakistan to escape US-backed forces that overran Afghanistan in late 2001. Pakistan had hitherto supported the Taliban militia's rule in Afghanistan, partly out of fear that India, Iran and Russia were supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

The turnaround in Pakistani foreign policy resulted in Al Qaeda putting Musharraf on a hit list, but the Pakistani military has benefitted from substantial US military aid.

Musharraf survived two al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts in late 2003.

Reuters SRS VP0045