Bin Laden's audio tape suggests Al Qaeda, Taliban are closely associated

London, Jun.4 (ANI): Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's latest audio tape, in which he has threatened the United States for supporting the Pakistan military's Swat offensive against the Taliban, suggests that both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are closely associated.

The tape, which went on-air almost simultaneously with Barack Obama's arrival in Saudi Arabia, accused the United States of sowing 'new seeds of hatred against America' for supporting Pakistan's fight against the Taliban.

Infact, Laden, in the tape, laughed off the speculations about a split between the Taliban and Al Qaeda saying it is a wishful thinking to believe that the two outfits were going their separate ways.

Experts also believe that Al-Qaeda is continuing its support and funding to the Taliban, The Fox News reports.

A foreign policy analyst with the Cato Institute, Malou Innocent said both the outlawed outfits continue to cooperate for the sake of unifying against a common enemy (US).

"For the time being, Pakistan has an unwieldy problem on their hands, something that will not go away anytime soon.The Al Qaeda-Taliban linkage is destabilizing for both Pakistan and Afghanistan," said Innocent.

Danielle Pletka, who is associated with the American Enterprise Institute, said Afghanistan has a possible chance to invite so-called moderates into the mainstream and away from the influence of Al Qaeda, but the Pakistan based Taliban were more obstinate and it was hard to flush them out of the region.

"They really are the bad guys. These are all Taliban groups, and in fact they're all Al Qaeda," Pletka said.

She pointed out that the tape has also proved that the efforts put in by the United States to quell extremism has certainly increased problems for Laden.

"Our efforts are bothering bin Laden, which is good," Pletka added. (ANI)