U.S. authorities placed a bounty on Monday of up to $10 million on Saeed, but on Wednesday he was openly wandering across Pakistan’s military garrison town of Rawalpindi, hanging out with some of the most anti-American characters in the country.

“This is a laughable, absurd announcement. Here I am in front of everyone, not hiding in a cave,” Saeed told a news conference at a hotel — a mere 40-minute drive from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and just across from the headquarters of Pakistan’s army, recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

Saeed operates openly in Pakistan from his base in the eastern city of Lahore and travels widely, giving public speeches and appearing on TV talk shows. He has been one of the leading figures of the Difa-e-Pakistan, or Defense of Pakistan Council, which has held a series of large demonstrations in recent months against the U.S. and India…

They say they don’t understand what all the fuss is about and complain the Americans are acting like cowboys. “The United States is acting like it’s Clint Eastwood,” said a senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s as if they just want to ride a horse into Pakistan and just drag people like him away.”