Al Qaeda feeling the heat, says US

Al Qaeda has started feeling the heat as a result of the intensification of American efforts against it in the Af-Pak region, a top Obama Administration official has said.

"The intensification of our efforts against Al Qaeda and its allies in Western Pakistan and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is continual. And they are feeling the heat," Richard Holbrooke, Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, told the MSNBC news channel in an interview.

"They can always try to blow up a plane or do one of these terrorist attacks, but they don't affect our determination and they only highlight the reason we're there," Holbrooke said.

Holbrooke said he believes that Bin Laden is in the Af-Pak border. "I think he's on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border," he said.

To a question on Pakistan, Holbrooke said Islamabad has a finite number of resources against a very elusive enemy in some of the toughest terrain on Earth.

He said he is pleased and impressed by the efforts of the Pakistani Army.

"Can they do more?  Well, that's up to them. I'm not going to publicly berate them, because I know what a tremendous strain and pressure they're under. And I think we should be cognizant of that effect," he said.

"We have got a long way to go. Pakistan needs our help not just because of the militants and Al Qaeda because also because of the situation in the rest of the country," he said.