Washington, July 1: Pakistani ambassador in Washington Hussain Haqqani has said that there was a complete failure of US’ public diplomacy in the Muslim world, in persuading its people for getting Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

He said that it was important for the Pakistani government that anyone who was a symbol of global terrorism should not be allowed to operate from any part of Pakistan or any of its neighboring countries, “but there is a complete failure of US diplomacy in the Muslim world”.

“Somehow there has been a weakness in communicating to the Muslim people that Osama bin Laden is an enemy of Islam, and Muslims, as much as he is an enemy of the United States, or terrorism is an enemy of Islam and Muslims as much as terrorism threatens the US,” the Washington Times quoted Haqqani as saying.

He added: “US officials are not always available to people for briefings. It’s more important to them to talk to the American media than it is to talk to the Arab media or the Persian-language media or the Urdu-language media. And so, supporters of bin Laden in the meantime are very active. So basically in psychological warfare, bin Laden has made more gains than he should have been allowed to make. And that is the reason why there is confusion.”

In an exclusive interview with the US daily, he spoke on wide ranging issues, including the new government in Islamabad, its efforts to do more against al Qaeda and the Taliban on their border with Afghanistan, and the hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. (ANI)