Kabul, Feb 11: The Afghanistan Government has come out in support of a senior US official’s claim that al-Qaeda chief Osam bin Laden and Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar are operating from Pakistan.

Osama, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other members of the terror organisation were operating from the volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a US official had said.

He had also claimed that Mullah Omar and other Afghan Taliban leaders who were forced out of the country were also directing militants’ activities in Afghanistan from Quetta.

Welcoming this statement, a spokesman for Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Humayun Hamidzada, said: “We are glad that finally a high-ranking American official confirmed this matter.”

“The Afghanistan Government has said for years that the administration centres, havens and regrouping bases of the enemies of Afghanistan and Taliban are outside Afghanistan, “ The News quoted him, as saying.

Hamidzada said that his government has repeatedly said that the roots of terrorism, its original sources and bases should be forcefully dealt with.

Without directly naming Pakistan, he said, “Certainly, the war in Afghanistan should continue, but the war should be taken to the source of terrorism where it is.” (ANI)