No Terror Training Camps in Pakistan, Ambassador Says

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2007— -- The Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, today vehemently denied recent reports that a resurgent Al Qaeda is operating terror training camps with renewed vigor in the rugged and lawless mountains of Northern Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan.

"Overall, what has been projected in the last two to three days is a gross exaggeration that there are camps sitting in Pakistan," Durrani said in a one-on-one interview with ABC News.

"There may be a camp or two, but when we find them, in joint operations with the U.S., we take them out," he added, citing two cases in which Pakistani forces raided camps suspected of being terror training facilities.

Last week President Bush said, "Taliban and al Qaeda figures do hide in remote regions of Pakistan."

While Durrani said that al Qaeda had been resurgent in the region, he denied that Pakistan was a staging ground for the terrorist group to rebuild its network, saying that its presence in Afghanistan posed a greater risk.

"It [al Qaeda] has re-emerged in the region stronger than it was last year," he said. "There may be some in Pakistan, but there are many, many more in Afghanistan."

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He admitted, however, that refugee camps, which were set up in Pakistan after Afghanistan's war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s but still exist today, are "breeding grounds for terrorists."

Durrani faults Afghanistan for failing to provide enough troops to secure the border and prevent terrorists from taking root, something he says that Pakistan has done.

Monday The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that al Qaeda's networks in Pakistan have been able to reorganize themselves and have rebounded after their ouster from Afghanistan following the 2001 U.S. invasion.

The State Department today would not confirm the reports, saying they could not comment on intelligence matters, but deputy spokesman Tom Casey did say that "we continue to be concerned, as you know, about cross border activities from Pakistan to Afghanistan."