Tribal Clash Hints At Bin Laden Hideout

THE destruction of a village in a mountainous tribal area of northwestern Pakistan has provided a new clue to the movements of Osama Bin Laden.
Signs of heavy fighting near the border with Afghanistan have added impetus to a low-profile American military drive inside Pakistan. Small numbers of US military intelligence agents joined Pakistani troops last week in an operation in which at least five suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were detained.

American officials have confirmed that covert US military units have also begun operating in mountain areas of Pakistan where tribal leaders are believed to have been sheltering Afghan fugitives.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said America forces had not heard “hide nor hair” of Bin Laden since December “in terms of anything hard”. But American intelligence agents have been picking up persistent reports that Bin Laden is hiding with a small group of Al-Qaeda fighters in the mountains above Parachinar, a Pakistani city near the Afghan border.

A Sunday Times reporter last week became the first foreign newspaper journalist to reach the ruined village of Darader, in the Kurram tribal area. Lying across the border from the Tora Bora mountains, where US forces pursued Al-Qaeda fugitives last year, the village was destroyed in December when rival Pakistani tribesmen clashed over an escaping group of 400 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, rumoured to have included Bin Laden.

The rubble of 160 stone-built houses is still scattered over the mountainside. Walls are full of holes from rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machinegun fire.

Villagers claimed their peace was shattered when two Pakistani tribesmen arrived with news that important “guests” were on their way. The next day a group carrying AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and satellite phones walked into the village.

“They were Arabs and Taliban — at least 400 people,” said Haji Piyao Noor, a watchman at the village school. “We slaughtered two buffaloes and cooked rice for them. They were exhausted.”

Americans complain that Pakistani tribesmen help Al-Qaeda fugitives, but not the Mengal tribe villagers of Darader. Envious of their visitors’ weapons and high-tech gear, they staged a mock attack on their own settlement in the hope that the fighters would flee without their equipment. But when the Al-Qaeda men realised they had been tricked, they returned with a rival group of Parachimkani tribesmen and for three days the tribes fought.

“They (the Mengals) looted cash and arms from the Muslim guests,” said Moulvi Mohammad Aslam, a Parachimkani leader who claimed that “very senior” Taliban officials had complained. “We asked them to hand over everything they looted. They refused and fired rockets on us. So we attacked.”

In the end the Mengals were forced to abandon their village, which the Parachimkanis destroyed. The Al-Qaeda fighters retrieved their equipment and moved to a more hospitable village.

Asked whether Bin Laden had been in Darader, the villagers exchanged glances as if warning each other not to reply and refused to confirm or deny it. “There were a lot of Arabs. We could not see Osama because we were busy serving tea, water and food to the guests,” said 60-year-old Haji Fazal Din.

The incident illustrates both the ease with which large groups of Al-Qaeda fighters can escape American clutches and the difficulties of establishing who may be hiding in the anarchic Pakistani tribelands of northern Waziristan.

Yet many local leaders seem convinced that Bin Laden is hiding in the area. “Everybody believes he is already here,” said Mohammad Ashraf, a tribal leader in the Kurram area. “He may be confined to a house in the Tirah valley or north Waziristan. Where, we don’t know, but he is somewhere near us.”

Increasing American military activity in the region supports this. Rumsfeld was asked by US troops in Kyrgyzstan on Friday: “When we get our hands on Mr Bin Laden, are we going to negotiate with him or annihilate him?” “In truth it’s his kind of choice,” replied Rumsfeld, who arrived yesterday at the Bagram base, near Kabul. “We’re hunting him down. My guess is he’ll either be killed in some attack that takes place when we find him or he’ll be captured . . . in which case we’ll have an opportunity to visit him.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has rejected an opposition plea to halt a referendum this Tuesday on whether to extend the rule of the military leader President Pervez Musharraf for another five years.

The US should offer these groups a bunch of satelite phones, advanced rifles, etc., the goodies that got them excited in this story, in exchange for the capture of Bin-Laden. None of these groups believe we will pay $25,000,000. Its too large an amount for them to fathom.

Rumsfield-"My guess is he’ll either be killed in some attack that takes place when we find him or he’ll be captured . . . in which case we’ll have an opportunity to visit him. "

Some high ranking leaders of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in the past have chosen to surrender..

Maybe the the passage to Heaven is only reserved only for the peons...

As a Marine in I Corps in Vietnam in '67-68 we had a reward program which compensated for weapons turned in; I thought at the time that it would have worked better if we swopped consumer goods instead of giving out money. The rural Vietnamese did not have much market access, and if they had money it was easily extorted. I suspect that in Afghanistan some of the same situation prevails. Put up toys and household goods and so forth-- things which will give joy to the women and children, and are of no value to the various paramilitary types and it might be surprising what the outcome would be.

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Air drop millions of packs of Marlboros with Osama's face on them and with rewards such as Toyota SUVs and pickup trucks. Also put five one dollar bills in the cigarette packs to show them we are ready to trade. That we are serious.

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