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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Brown warns Pakistan on al-Qaeda | Brown warns Pakistan on al-Qaeda |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Gordon Brown has told the BBC that Pakistan must do more to "break" al-Qaeda and find Osama Bin Laden. | Gordon Brown has told the BBC that Pakistan must do more to "break" al-Qaeda and find Osama Bin Laden. |
| Eight years after the 2001 attacks on the US, nobody had been able "to spot or detain or get close to" the al-Qaeda leader, the prime minister said. | Eight years after the 2001 attacks on the US, nobody had been able "to spot or detain or get close to" the al-Qaeda leader, the prime minister said. |
| Pakistan's security services must join fully in the "major effort" to isolate the terrorist group, he warned. | Pakistan's security services must join fully in the "major effort" to isolate the terrorist group, he warned. |
| Meanwhile, a Senate report claims US forces had Bin Laden "within their grasp" in Afghanistan in late 2001. | |
| But it says calls for US reinforcements were rejected and Bin Laden was able to escape into Pakistan's unregulated tribal areas. | But it says calls for US reinforcements were rejected and Bin Laden was able to escape into Pakistan's unregulated tribal areas. |
| Air strikes | Air strikes |
| The report, prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff, says US commanders chose to rely on air strikes and "untrained Afghan militias" to pursue Bin Laden in the mountainous Tora Bora area. | The report, prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff, says US commanders chose to rely on air strikes and "untrained Afghan militias" to pursue Bin Laden in the mountainous Tora Bora area. |
| In interviews on Sunday, Mr Brown said progress had been made against the Taliban in south Waziristan by Pakistan's government. | In interviews on Sunday, Mr Brown said progress had been made against the Taliban in south Waziristan by Pakistan's government. |
| We want to see more progress in taking out these two people at the top of al Qaida Gordon Brown Bin Laden was 'within US grasp' | We want to see more progress in taking out these two people at the top of al Qaida Gordon Brown Bin Laden was 'within US grasp' |
| But he told the BBC: "We've got to ask ourselves why, eight years after September the 11th, nobody has been able to spot or detain or get close to Osama bin Laden, nobody's been able to get close to [Ayman] Zawahiri, the number two in al-Qaeda. | |
| "And we've got to ask the Pakistan authorities, security services, army and politicians to join us in the major effort that the world is committing resources to, and that is not only to isolate al-Qaeda, but to break them in Pakistan." | |
| He said he would be talking to Pakistan's leaders to say, if the international community is putting so much effort into building up Afghanistan to control its own affairs "then Pakistan has got to be able to show that it can take on al-Qaeda". | He said he would be talking to Pakistan's leaders to say, if the international community is putting so much effort into building up Afghanistan to control its own affairs "then Pakistan has got to be able to show that it can take on al-Qaeda". |
| He said the terrorist network posed a "continuing threat", adding: "I believe that after eight years, we should have been able to do more, with all the Pakistani forces working together with the rest of the world, to get to the bottom of where al-Qaeda is operating from." | He said the terrorist network posed a "continuing threat", adding: "I believe that after eight years, we should have been able to do more, with all the Pakistani forces working together with the rest of the world, to get to the bottom of where al-Qaeda is operating from." |
| 'Political surge' | |
| He added that, eight years on, "we want ... to see more progress in taking out these two people at the top of al-Qaeda, who have done so much damage and are clearly the brains behind many of the operations aimed at Britain". | |
| In a separate interview with Sky News, Mr Brown said Britain was prepared to help "rebuild the education system in Pakistan" where, he said, propaganda in madrassas - Islamic schools or colleges - and ordinary schools was "supportive of extremist action". | |
| But he said other issues concerning education and unemployment made up a climate which "feeds dissent" and the Pakistani authorities had to deal with these. | |
| On Saturday the prime minister said Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai would be expected to make commitments on training up Afghan troops and tackling corruption, at a conference in London in January. | |
| International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said it was "vital ... to match this military surge with a political surge" - and that was the thinking behind the London conference. | |
| But he played down reports that British troops could be home by Christmas 2010: "The speed at which British troops can come home, is dictated by the speed at which Afghan forces can step up." | |
| He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "I think the right attitude is not to have an end date, but an end state, in mind - we want Afghan forces to be able to protect their own country." | |
| But if Afghan forces were increased from 90,000 to 134,000 - as they hope to achieve in the next year - that would be a "significant step on the road to Afghanistan being able to provide its own security for its own people," he went on. |