US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the "heart" of al Qaeda remained in the Afghan-Pakistan border area even as the network spreads its influence to the Arabian Peninsula and northern Africa. While al Qaeda's leaders, including founder Osama bin Laden, continued to operate out of the border area, "they provide the guidance, they provide the priorities, they provide legitimacy to other al Qaeda affiliates that are developing in other places, including in the Arabian peninsula, in Yemen in particular and in northern Africa, in the Maghreb," Gates told reporters. "I would say the heart of al Qaeda remains ... in the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said during a visit to Kuala Lumpur. With al Qaeda "spreading its tentacles," the United States was able to cope with the threat partly thanks to help from allies who see the dangers posed by the terror network, he said. The US government can count on "strong friends", including France and predominantly Muslim Malaysia, to take on Islamist militants, he said. "We're not in this fight by ourselves. We have some strong friends who see their own self-interest in dealing with this threat of extremist terrorism," he said. "So I'm confident that we will have the resources and the capability to continue to deal with it," he said.