Pakistan hits out at US critics of terrorism stance

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) Pakistan hit back today at US critics of its fight against terrorism, insisting its army was best suited to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda militants Washington believes enjoy safe haven in Pakistani tribal areas near Afghanistan.

Appearing on CNN's ''Late Edition,'' Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri criticized talk of US forces attacking al Qaeda on Pakistani territory, warning that any incursion would alienate opinion in the predominantly Muslim US ally against terrorism.

''We are committed to controlling terrorism, and people in Pakistan get very upset when despite all the sacrifices that Pakistan has been making you get all these criticisms'' in the press, he said in an interview from Lahore, Pakistan.

''What I don't like is the tone that I am now hearing and that I am now reading in the American media,'' said Kasuri.

Part of the National Intelligence Estimate made public last week found a ''persistent and evolving'' threat to the United States from Islamic militant groups, especially al Qaeda, which is said has become entrenched in Pakistan's tribal region near Afghanistan.

President George W Bush, in his taped weekly radio address yesterday, said the report's assessment that al Qaeda was gaining strength in the tribal region of Pakistan was ''one of the most troubling.'' Pakistan's North Waziristan area near the Afghan border is believed to be a hotbed of al Qaeda and Taliban activity.

Washington has been pressing Pakistan to do more against al Qaeda in the border area and has not ruled out US strikes.

LOSING HEARTS AND MINDS Bush security aide Fran Townsend told ''Fox News Sunday'' that Washington was ''first and foremost'' working with Pakistan and its embattled president, army general Pervez Musharraf.

She echoed Bush's support for Musharraf, who is struggling with a violent campaign by Islamic militants and a political crisis following Pakistan's Supreme Court reinstatement of the chief justice after the president sought to remove him.

''You don't walk away from your partners, and it's not in our interest to walk away from them,'' said Townsend, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.

However, asked whether the US was doing everything it could to go after al Qaeda in Pakistan, she said: ''Just because we don't speak about things publicly, doesn't mean we aren't doing many of the things you are talking about.'' Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, a staunch critic of Bush's war in Iraq, said: ''I don't think we should take anything off the table.'' ''Wherever we find these evil people, we should go get them,'' the Nevada Democrat told CBS' ''Face the Nation.'' Kasuri told CNN a US raid into Pakistan would be a mistake.

''When you talk of going after targets, you will lose the battle for hearts and minds,'' he said.

''The Pakistan Army can do the job much better,'' he said.

Pakistan's military said today that security forces killed six pro-Taliban militants in fighting in North Waziristan, after overnight battles left 13 rebels dead.

The United States, after being hit by al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001, led an invasion of Afghanistan later that year to oust the Taliban religious movement that had seized power and to root out bin Laden and his followers.

REUTERS RJ RAI2146