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Mullah
Omar Alive, Bin Laden 'Probably Dead': Karzai
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Afghani women searched by U.S. troops
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Additional
reporting by IOL Staff
KABUL,
Oct 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In an interview one year
after the U.S.-led bombing campaign began in Afghanistan, Afghan
President Hamid Karzai said Sunday, October 6, that Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar is alive but Osama bin Laden is probably dead.
"Mullah
Omar is alive and we know of that and we have come close to arresting
him several times, but he has been able to escape," Karzai told
the CNN television network.
"It
is difficult to get a man like that because nobody knows him by face.
I believe he is most of the time in Afghanistan."
Mullah
Omar led the Taliban militia which controlled most of Afghanistan from
1996 until their downfall late last year.
There
were few sightings of the reclusive cleric even while he was in power.
He conducted most of his business through a select handful of trusted
aides.
Karzai
said a question mark remained over the fate of Bin Laden, accused by
the U.S. to be the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on
New York and Washington.
"We
have come to believe that he probably is dead but still you never
know, he might be alive," Karzai said. "The more we do not
hear of him, there is the likelihood he is dead or seriously injured
somewhere."
However,
British daily The Guardian reported Sunday that Bin
Laden is alive and regularly meeting with Mullah Omar,
according to a telephone call intercepted by American spy satellites.
Karzai
said that the Taliban, whose support for Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network
prompted the start of the coalition military campaign in Afghanistan
on October 7, 2001, was more or less a spent force.
"They
were a government just about eight or nine months ago, they are now a
group on the run. They are no longer a political reality in
Afghanistan. We do not see them as a danger."
Questioned
on a recent attempt on his life, Karzai said the gunman involved in
the September 5 assassination attempt was linked to the militia.
"This
man was clearly someone very, very close to the Taliban, someone who
had fought alongside the Taliban, someone who had received training in
various activities," he said.
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Karzai
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Karzai
came within inches of death when the would-be assassin pumped bullets
into his motorcade during a visit to the former Taliban stronghold of
Kandhar in southern Afghanistan.
When
asked if he was scared for his safety, the Afghan President replied:
"No I'm not, I have been through these incidents before... I
trust God's keeping, when he decides I should not be here any more,
that will be the moment."
Karzai
also said that uncertainties over security in Afghanistan required the
continued presence of coalition forces. More than 10,000 predominantly
U.S. soldiers are continuing the hunt for Al-Qaeda and Taliban
fighters.
A
further 5,000 troops make up a multinational peacekeeping force
patrolling the streets of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
"The
U.S. and allied forces are here as a whole to keep Afghanistan away
from dangers, now they are here to keep Afghanistan stable,"
Karzai said.
"I
believe the presence of the international forces... should be here for
as long as the Afghan people need them, so we can stand on our own
feet. I cannot say the timeframe, probably a year, probably less, or
more than that."
He
also spoke of the need for other countries to make good on their
pledges of aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, still badly
affected by 23 years of conflict exacerbated by prolonged droughts and
severe earthquakes.
"While
Afghans are very grateful to the international community for what they
have done so far, there are other areas in which the international
community has not delivered," he said.
Karzai,
however, avoided talking about the high death toll of civilian
casualties, caused by the U.S. war on his country, as well as the huge
destruction that left Afghanistan almost in ruins, according to
analysts.
He
also ignored the factional fighting among Afghani war lords, some of
them are against the presence of foreign troops on their land, and
others still oppose the rule of a foreign-backed government, headed by
Karzai.
"One
year after the U.S. started its unjustified war on our country, we
still live in poverty, most of our people are homeless, our country is
destroyed, thanks to America," an Afghan refugee, who returned
home a couple of weeks ago told IslamOnline Sunday.
"The
world no more cares about us, they never did actually. Now that
America had what it wanted and set its bases on our land, no one
thinks about our miseries any more," he added.
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