CIA's Panetta: No New Leads on Bin Laden, Tough Road Ahead in Afghanistan

CIA Director Leon Panetta said Sunday that it has been since the "early 2000s" that the U.S. had good intelligence on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden but believes he has holed up in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

In an interview on ABC's This Week, Panetta also said the U.S. faced a "tough road" ahead in Afghanistan and downplayed a report that Pakistan was trying to form its own alliance with Afghanistan by saying it could deliver the backing of a key insurgent group for a power-sharing arrangement.

Speaking of bin Laden, Panetta said "He is, as is obvious, in very deep hiding. He's in an area of the ... tribal areas in Pakistan that is very difficult. The terrain is probably the most difficult in the world ... That's all we know, that he's located in that vicinity. The terrain is very difficult. He obviously has tremendous security around him."

Asked when the last time intelligence agencies had a good lead on bin Laden, Panetta said,"It's been a while.. that we had the last precise information about where he might be located. Since then, it's been very difficult to get any intelligence on his exact location."

Panetta had told the Washington Post in March that he believed that bin Laden was hiding in "North Waziristan, or somewhere in that vicinity." North Waziristan is a mountainous area on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan which officials have come to regard as the most important haven for al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban.

"There's no question that the main location of al-Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan," Panetta said. He estimated the number of al-Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan "at maybe 60 to 100, maybe less."

The last time the U.S. came close to having bin Laden in its sights was in Decemember 2001 when, in the final major battle of the post 9/11 war in Afghanistan, Bin Laden and his followers took refuse in the caves of Tora Bora before eluding troops and escaping.

Turning to the political and military situation in Afghanistan, Panetta said, "We're seeing some progress in the fact that there's less deterioration as far as the ability of the Taliban to maintain control."

But he added, "This is going to be tough. This is not going to be easy, and it is going to demand not only the United States military trying to take on ... a difficult Taliban insurgency, but it is going to take the Afghan army and police to be able to accept the responsibility that we pass on to them. That's going to be the key."

"I think the Taliban obviously is engaged in greater violence right now," he said. "They're doing more on IED's. They're going after our troops. There's no question about that. In some ways, they are stronger, but in some ways, they are weaker as well."

Panetta also downplayed a report in the New York Times that the Pakistan is trying to exploit U.S. difficulties by presenting itself as a new partner for Afghanistan, one that can deliver the backing of an important al-Qaeda ally behind the insurgency into a power-sharing arrangement.

"The bottom line is that we really have not seen any firm intelligence that there's a real interest among the Taliban, the militant allies of al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda itself, the Haqqanis, TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban), other militant groups," Panetta said.

"We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation, where they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce Al Qaida, where they would really try to become part of that society," Panetta added. "We've seen no evidence of that and very frankly, my view is that with regards to reconciliation, unless they're convinced that the United States is going to win and that they're going to be defeated, I think it's very difficult to proceed with a reconciliation that's going to be meaningful."

On NBC's Meet the Press, Republican Sen. John McCain said that if Afghan president Hamid Karzai was susceptible to strategies other than what the U.S. was offering, the blame went to President Obama's decision to set a timetable for drawing down American troops in the country.

"A lot of the behavior that Karzai is displaying, a lot of the things that are going on right now are direct result of the President's commitment to beginning withdrawal or whatever not turn out the lights means, "McCain said. "Karzai is acting like he is ... because he is beginning to accommodate for a situation where he finds himself with Americans withdrawing."

"I'm against a timetable," McCain said. "In wars you declare when you're leaving after you've succeeded. And by the way, no military adviser recommended to the President that he set a date of the middle of 2011 so it was purely a political decision and not one based on facts on the ground, not based on military strategy."