I can guarandammteeya that the bribe money has been flowing into the chieftains' hands for at least a week. And a king's ransom will go to the chieftain, AND TO HIS BOYS, who gives up bin Laden. The tribal elders are pious Muslims, but money talks and bullsh*t walks. It has never been in anyone's financial interest to give us this clown and his lieutenants. Now it is. Add to this the fact that bin Laden and his boys are ethnic Arabs, not Pashtuns, and the Afghans have even less of an incentive to keep Usama hidden from view. The resentment towards the Arab interlopers has become palpable in Kabul. Bin Laden and his immediate circle will be betrayed by someone very close to him in the Taliban who is an ethnic Pashtun. Count on it.
The downside? We have to leave the opium poppy crop alone. Or we have to purchase the poppy from the farmers at market prices. Sorry folks, but that's the cost of doing business in Afghanistan.
Be Seeing You,
Chris