Hunt for Osama 'hideously complex' given treacherous nature of Pak-Afghan border

Washington, Jan 17 (ANI): CIA Director Michael Hayden has said that the hunt for Osama bin Laden is 'hideously complex' in reality considering the vastness and treacherous terrain on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where he is purportedly hiding.

Hayden, now in the final weeks of his tenure at the CIA, told FOX News in an exclusive television interview that he decided to press his own sources for the best information available.

"I asked one of the best people we have, the head of our counter-terrorism center, and I went up to him and said 'You know I get asked this question a lot ... help me here, why haven't we captured him?'" he said.

Hayden said he was not trying to trivialize the issue, but the answer he got was surprisingly simple. "He kind of leaned forward and said: 'Because he's hiding.'"

Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in a region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border - an area that offers some of the roughest terrain on the planet.

"One has to understand the circumstances and the vastness of the area in which we believe he was and is - the nature of that area. This looks simple in the abstract. It becomes hideously complex in the particular," Hayden said.

Al Qaeda has faced a number of setbacks recently. Just last week confirmation came in that two terrorists wanted in connection with the 1998 US embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania were killed in the same region where Laden is believed to be hiding.

The strikes are part of a punishing missile campaign that intensified eight months ago, killing at least eight senior al Qaeda leaders, FOX News reported.

After years of strengthening its base in tribal areas of Pakistan, there are significant signs that al Qaeda's grip is loosening, Hayden said. Those areas are now a very "unfriendly" place for them, according to the CIA director.

Al Qaeda are guests in the region and rely on the alliances with local tribal leaders to support them. Those alliances are now getting weaker with each strike. The cost in terms of human lives and damage is not worth it to the locals. (ANI)