On the 6th anniversary of 9/11, a question we should all be asking is - how come OBL has not been nabbed even after 6 years ?
Rediff, an Indian portal, has an article by Hamid Mir on How Osama has survived for six years.
Hamid Mir is the Executive Editor of Geo TV, a Pakistan based television network. He has interviewed OBL three times, once after the Afghan war had started, which he explains in this article.
According to Hamid, Osama is still hiding in Afghanistan.
The Egyptian doctor is constantly in touch with his leader, but they live separately. Dr al Zawahri spends more time in Pakistan's tribal areas while Osama still feels Afghanistan is safer for him.
More below the fold.
Note : I've shortened the quote in the title to make it fit within the available space.
It seems to me Hamid is somewhat sympathetic to Al Qaeda, its cause - if not their methods. So, I'd take what he says with a pinch or two of salt. Also, note that some of this may be to deflect attention from Pakistan back on to Afghanistan.
Hamid was interviewing OBL in Kabul - after the Afghan war had started - just minutes before a bomb was dropped on the building.
Muhammad dropped me off at a big house. He returned after two hours. He said the place in Kabul where I met his 'Sheikh' had been bombed just 15 minutes after we left, but 'Sheikh' and the others also left the place immediately after us and nobody was harmed.
According to Mashal, an Afghan security person, Osama survived Tora Bora because we were reluctant to send troops on the ground to catch him - preferring to sub-contract.
Mashal now works with President Hamid Karzai and he is sure that the Americans missed Osama in Tora Bora because they were not ready to send their forces on the ground.
According to Hamid, OBL escaped from Tora Bora by bribing a Northern Alliance commander. I'd take this with a bit of salt - Pakistan's propensity to blame Northern alliance is well known.
The Americans depended more on a Northern Alliance commander who betrayed them. According to highly reliable Afghan sources, this man provided safe passage to Al Qaeda in return for a lot of money. He is a member of the Afghan parliament now.
After hiding in Pakistan during the Afghan war, OBL came back to Afghanistan after Iraq war started and started drumming up support.
In April 2003, Osama surfaced again in Afghanistan after the US invasion of Iraq. He called a meeting in the Pech valley of the northeastern Afghan province Kunar and delivered a hard-hitting speech in which he announced his plans to resist America in Iraq. He said, 'Get Americans in Iraq before they get us in Afghanistan.'
Apparently, OBL was again cornered in 2004 by the British. But he managed to escape.
Highly placed diplomatic sources revealed to me recently in Kabul that the British forces were very close to capturing Osama. He was under siege for more than 24 hours but he escaped one of the world's most well equipped armies again.
The central question remains. Why has OBL not been nabbed in 6 years ?
I have interviewed top US and British officials in the last six years. I have asked one question to everyone from Condoleezza Rice to Tony Blair, from top US General Richard B Myers to the British commander in Afghanistan General David Richards: Why is Osama bin Laden still at large?
They had no answer.