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Paper Cites
Afghan Sources on Bin Ladin's Possible Escape to Western Iran Report by
Nidal al-Laythi from London:
"US Ambushes Set up
All Along the Border to Entrap Al-Qa'ida Leader. Information Indicates
Bin Ladin's Possible Move to Western Iran"
[FBIS Translated Text]
PSD To HTML conversion is important to webmasters because they cannot use the PSD file as it is for their web pages. if you need PSD To HTML conversion service save yourself some time, effort and money and send it in to the professionals. The British and US
forces have completed imposing their control over all Afghanistan's
territories after the local Northern Alliance and Pashtun tribes in the
east and south that are cooperating with them have seized control of the
last Al-Qa'ida stronghold in the Tora Bora caves. But Usama Bin Ladin is
still alive and his fate has become a riddle as Washington, London, and
other capitals prepare to celebrate victory while their armies,
intelligence services, and financial establishments are continuing their
two-month old campaign to hunt down the terrorists' cells and their bank
accounts all over the world.
Relying on military and
intelligence field reports, the Pentagon and the British Defense
Ministry are deliberately naming probable places where Bin Ladin, Al-Qa'ida
leaders, and their protectors might have retreated to hide in. These
include areas inside Afghanistan itself where ambushes have been set up
all along the eastern border to entrap him.
Afghan sources in Kabul
and London revealed to Al-Zaman yesterday that the air tickets for Arab
fighters discovered in the Tora Bora caves indicate that they had used
Tehran International Airport as a staging post for entering Afghanistan,
thus making Iran one of the probable destinations for the retreat.
The sources added:
"Bin Ladin had sent propagators to western Iran to establish Al-Qa'ida
cells. There was a reasonable response and sympathy for them." They
added: "Bin Ladin's move to Iran, and specifically to the nearby
areas in it, is a possible option." Explaining this, they said:
"They are ideal country for a fugitive person.
In addition to their
ruggedness, the lack of control there have turned them into the
preferred route for smugglers bringing drugs from Pakistan to central
Iran."
The lack of cordiality
between Washington and Tehran plays a role in Bin Ladin's decision to
cross into western Iranwhere he can be beyond the reach of the hunters
tracking his steps. According to US sources, Pakistan's intensification
of its border controls will not prevent Bin Ladin from choosing it as a
safe haven, benefiting in this from the
sympathy of the Pashtun
tribes that are sympathetic to Taliban and Al-Qa'ida and from the
geography of the mountainous area.
The same Afghan sources
that spoke to Al-Zaman by telephone asserted, "Dozens of Taliban
leaders and government officials had crossed the common border and are
now living in Quetta where hundreds of thousands of pro-Taliban Afghan
refugees are living."
The sources said they do
not rule out the possibility that Bin Ladin might have succeeded in
crossing the border with these leaders and is
living with them in the
same city or he might have moved somewhere else by benefiting from the
sympathy of several Pakistani intelligence generals.
The fall of Konduz in
the north ruled out the choice of Tajikistan as a safe haven for Al-Qa'ida's
leader where he could hide in the Ferganah Valley, which stretches
across several Eastern and Central Asian countries and where the
populations are hostile to these countries' governments. It would be
difficult for Bin Ladin to cross the hundreds of kilometers between
Kandahar and Jalalabad in order to reach Tajikistan's border without
facing the danger of death or capture.
[Description of Source:
London-based independent Iraqi daily providing coverage of Arab and
international issues, including extensive reporting on Iraqi opposition
activities; has an anti-Iraqi regime orientation, and is headed by the
former editor of the Iraqi daily Al-Jumhuriy]
Article Id:
GMP20011219000066
Document Id:
0gon9xr0273a63
Insert Date: 12/20/2001
Purge Date: 01/03/2004
Publish Date: 12/19/2001
Publish Region: Near
East & South Asia
Lines: 97
Document Number:
FBIS-NES-2001-1219
Document Type: Daily
Report
Document Title: FBIS
Translated Text
Document Region: Near
East/South Asia, West Europe, The Americas
Document Date: 19 Dec
2001
Division: South Asia,
West Europe, North America
Subdivision:
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States
Sourceline:
GMP20011219000066 London Al-Zaman in Arabic 19 Dec 01 p1
AFS Number:
GMP20011219000066
Citysource: London Al-Zaman
Language: Arabic
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