Free Republic

KABUL (Reuters) - The al Qaeda network has stepped up activity along the Afghan-Pakistan border, opening a "second front" to divert U.S. military resources and attention from Iraq, Afghanistan 's interior minister said Friday. Ali Ahmad Jalali said some recent attacks on U.S. forces, especially in the east of the country, had been carried out by foreign al Qaeda fighters, as opposed to native Taliban militia. Militants killed in clashes on the Afghan and Pakistan sides of the border in recent weeks included Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and Pakistanis, a sign they were from the network of Saudi-born dissident Osama bin...

Bin Laden Along Afghan-Pakistan Border -- Spy Chief Sat Jul 13,12:03 PM ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden is alive, probably in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan the head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence network said in a newspaper interview due to be published on Sunday. "Given the information we have we are convinced that bin Laden is still alive," August Hanning, president of the Bundesnachrichtendienst agency, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Bin Laden is Washington's main suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. "He is still the figurehead of al Qaeda, but...