Bin Laden in Pakistan, says financier
Osama bin Laden crossed the border to Pakistan a week ago, according to a report in the respected Boston-based newspaper the Christian Science Monitor, which quoted Abu Jaffar, a Saudi financier and senior member of bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
And most of the Taleban's top leaders and hundreds of their fighters also are reportedly in hiding in Pakistan, living with ethnic tribesmen who spirited them out of Afghanistan.
The reports by American media have been strenuously denied by the US and Pakistan governments. But the on-the-ground reality is that the Pakistani territories bordering Afghanistan are ruled by tribes that have their own law and are little influenced or governed by Islamabad.
Jaffar said only bin Laden's 19-year-old son, Salah Uddin, remained at al-Qaeda's base in the Tora Bora mountain cave complex. 'Bin Laden travelled out of Tora Bora two times in this Ramadan holy month,' Mr Jaffar said. 'He left to meet Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar about three weeks ago and stayed with him near Kandahar. He left again just over a week ago and was headed to Pakistan, where he was helped across the border by Pashtun tribesmen.'
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the report was dubious and the London-based al-Majallah magazine quoted bin Laden's top aide Ayman al-Zawahri as saying the militant was still in Afghanistan and would fight on, using suicide attacks against US forces.
But NBC sources claimed up to 500 Taleban and al-Qaeda troops captured in the northern cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz had bought safe passage to Iran. Pakistani officials yesterday denied the claims.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tahir Khashnud said there was no chance that Taleban fighters could cross from Afghanistan. 'We have been effectively policing the border,' he said.
But the 2,000km border separating Afghanistan and Pakistan covers all types of terrain, from desert plains to snow-capped peaks of up to 4,500 metres. The boundary was created in 1893 by the Durand Agreement between Afghanistan and British India. The region has yet to be fully surveyed, with numerous mountain passes still not indicated on maps.
Tens of thousands of Pakistanis, many from hardline religious groups or students of Islamic schools, crossed the border into Afghanistan to fight with the Taleban. With the Taleban's defeat, they are now trying to return.
