-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/565/6war1.htm
> Unless it can be shown that Bin Laden and Mullah Omar have already
> slipped into a third country, the heavy responsibility of capturing
> them will fall into the hands of Karzai and his administration.
>>>This is encouraging. How far will a little more payola go?<<<
}}}>Begin
Al-Ahram Weekly Online
20 - 26 December 2001
Issue No.565
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
Current issue | Previous issue | Site map
The fugitive
As the US-led coalition consolidates its military hold over
Afghanistan, the war is shifting down to a full-scale hunt for Bin
Laden, reports Absar Allam from Islamabad
>>>Images @ site<<<
Evolution of a war: (from top) US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
prepares to depart for a NATO ministers' meeting in Brussels; taking
a record of the mighty US attacks in the Tora Bora mountain region in
Afghanistan; a foreign Taliban fighter is paraded as booty by Afghan
anti-Taliban fighters in Agom (photos: AP & AFP)
Haji Mohamed Zaman, an anti-Taliban Afghan militia commander,
declared victory this week in the battle against Al-Qa'eda fighters
holed up in their last hideout, the extensive Tora Bora cave complex,
near Jalalabad.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, was not so absolute,
cautiously indicating that the battle in Tora Bora has not yet ended.
Most significantly, the prime suspect in the 11 September terrorist
attacks, Al-Qa'eda leader Osama Bin Laden, and Taliban leader Mullah
Mohamed Omar, are still at large. Conflicting statements as to Bin
Laden's whereabouts came soon after anti-Taliban troops and US
marines launched an operation in the cave complex to search for
surviving Al-Qa'eda members and hidden caches of weapons and
ammunition.
As people in Afghanistan celebrated their first Eid after five years
of tough Taliban rule, fighting raged in the Tora Bora hills. The US
sent 125 sorties in a single day to crush the last pockets of Al-
Qa'eda resistance in the fiercely guarded area. The massive bombing
by B-52 bombers and other US war planes was ordered after
intelligence reports indicated that Bin Laden was in the area. US
intelligence agencies, who say they intercepted Bin Laden's voice,
believe that he was in Tora Bora as recently as Saturday.
Relative calm settled on the Tora Bora hills on Monday as US war
planes reduced their sorties. The US bombing on the caves and
mountains had increased during the last two weeks after the fall of
Kandahar as it was believed that Bin Laden was holed up in the
mountains. Alongside intensive bombing from the air, the ground
troops of Commander Zaman and Commander Hazrat Ali besieged the cave
complex, forcing Al-Qa'eda fighters to surrender or face death.
Captured Al-Qa'eda fighters -- mostly Arabs, Pakistanis and Chechens -
- had shown startling strong resistance in the last four weeks, but
this week they were on view for the international media. Anti-Taliban
troops loyal to Commander Zaman and Commander Hazrat Ali paraded the
arrested non-Afghan fighters through the streets. Some 200 Al- Qa'eda
members died in the fight against the US-led coalition in Tora Bora
hills. Another three dozen were injured, while several hundreds
escaped from the area when negotiations for a surrender were going on
between the rival groups.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition is keeping open the strong possibility that Bin Laden
might have been slipped out of the area into Pakistan or Iran. Pakistan has already
beefed up security by deploying regular army troops
along the Afghan border for the first time since its independence in 1947. Local
Afghan commanders believe that Bin Laden and several dozen Al-Qa'eda commandos, taking
advantage of the cease-fire during the negotiations,
slipped out of the area.
Afghan militias and the US marines are now combing the tunnels, caves, villages and
hamlets where Bin Laden or any of his followers might have taken refuge. Large stocks
of unused ordnance left in the tunnels by retreatin
g Al-Qa'eda fighters, however, strengthened the coalition's suspicion that Bin Laden
was still in the area.
US plans to continue military action in Afghanistan were confirmed by Defence
Secretary Rumsfeld, who landed at Bagram airbase, near the capital Kabul, on Sunday to
meet US troops and members of the new interim administra
tion. During his sudden, and brief, air dash to Afghanistan, Rumsfeld
met Hamid Karzai, who was named the head of the interim council that
will take control of Afghanistan over the weekend. Rumsfeld also met
with Defence Minister Qasim Fahim and Interior Minister Younis
Qanooni.
With the complete capture of Tora Bora, the US-led coalition will
have taken control of the whole of Afghanistan. And yet, the two most
wanted persons -- Bin Laden and Mullah Omar -- are still out of the
net. The fact that both remain fugitives indicates that the war
against terrorism has not yet ended. The US is very likely to
continue bombing suspect areas in Afghanistan to completely
annihilate the Al-Qa'eda terrorist network.
Once the new government takes control of Afghanistan this week, the
war will enter a new phase. Unless it can be shown that Bin Laden and
Mullah Omar have already slipped into a third country, the heavy
responsibility of capturing them will fall into the hands of Karzai
and his administration.
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