Coalition Force Doubts Al Qaeda Claim

Reuters | 6/24/02 | Denise Duclaux

[kattracks]

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A spokesman for international forces hunting al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan said Monday a claim by a spokesman for the militant group that it was still 98 percent intact was "wishful thinking."

U.S. army Colonel Roger King also denied reports that hundreds of coalition forces had joined Afghan troops since Saturday in a fresh hunt for fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in the mountains of southern Afghanistan.

King spoke to reporters at Bagram Air Base, where General Tommy Franks, the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was due to arrive later in the day for military briefings.

Arab satellite broadcaster al-Jazeera aired an undated voice tape Sunday in which a known al Qaeda spokesman said 98 percent of the group's leaders, including Osama bin Laden, had survived the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

The spokesman, Sulaiman bu Ghaith, also warned the United States, which blames bin Laden for the September 11 air assaults on New York and Washington, to get ready for more attacks.

King questioned the ability of al Qaeda to operate.

"We felt that we have had a significant impact on their ability to perform, command and control. We don't feel that they can effectively do that with their bodies of forces at this time," King said.

"We think that is a direct result of our actions, and I feel if someone from al Qaeda says that 98 percent of their command and control is still effective, it's wishful thinking on their part."

HUNT ON FOR MULLAH OMAR?

Bagram, north of Kabul, is the center of operations for thousands of U.S. and other international troops who have continued to scour Afghanistan for al Qaeda and Taliban remnants following last year's intensive air and ground operations.

The deputy governor of Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, said by telephone Monday a big search operation was under way in mountains in four central and southern provinces for bin Laden and ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

The deputy governor, Mohammad Shoaib, said coalition forces and Afghan troops had arrested 25 suspected Taliban in the rugged mountains around Kandahar overnight.

"We are investigating them about the whereabouts of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden," he said, adding there were strong possibilities both may be hiding in the mountains of Helmand, Uruzgan or Ghowr provinces.

The Pakistan-based independent Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency said helicopters had joined the hunt after reports that Mullah Omar, who fled Kandahar when the city fell to Afghan fighters last December, and key aides may be in the area.

But the spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan dismissed the reports.

"There is no such operation ongoing or in the recent past," King said. "I have no idea what they are talking about."

U.S.-led troops have had little contact in past weeks with al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, many of whom are believed to have fled across the mountainous, porous border into Pakistan.

Troops have been uncovering empty cave hideouts and discarded weapons caches that they say may have belonged to the militants.

Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.

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