Osama, Omar Escape to Pakistan

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit


Osama, Omar Have Escaped to Pakistan - Anonymous Reports

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (PTI)--Terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden and
Taliban supremo Mullah Omar have escaped to Pakistan and are in
hiding, media reports said.

With the fighting in Tora Bora nearing end without any trace of Bin
Laden, 'Washington Post' on Monday said, quoting Pakistani officials
who spoke on conditions of anonymity, that the prime suspect in
September 11 attacks in the US is hiding in Pakistan until a safer
place is found for him and Mullah Omar is granted asylum.

Bin Laden, his top aides alongwith Omar's commanders and hundreds of
their followers have found, at least temporarily, safe haven in
Pakistan after evading American attack targeted at them.

Pakistan, as the creator of the Taliban, analysts have pointed out,
has a huge stake in its continued well-being even in defeat which it
hopes will be temporary. Its ambitions in Kashmir and dreams of
greater Pakistan are served by the Taliban remaining a viable entity
and not by its destruction, it said.

"Unbelievably, not one top cabinet minister of Mullah Omar has been
killed, arrested or defected to opposition forces during the
two-month long, non-stop bombing, a senior Pakistani security
official said.

The escape of the the Saudi-born fugitive and the supreme commander
of the Islamic militia is being made possible because of the "Afghan
way" of fighting wars, the daily said. According to Afghan custom,
the report said, instead of engaging in bloody battles, the outcome
of wars is considered settled once it becomes clear who has the
superior forces.  Former enemies either melt away or reconcile, and
if reconciliation is not possible, at least co-exist without
troubling each other.

Pakistan is yet to express either its will or the desire to nab the
duo, it said adding, it is also not clear how much pressure
Washington would exert on Islamabad to get them.

Of a "dirty-dozen" list of top Taliban officials drawn up by alliance
officials before the fall of Kabul a month ago, at least five are
believed to be in Pakistan, the report said, quoting Afghan
intelligence officials.

"Ultimately, the Taliban is expected to gain time to mount a
challenge to the interim government of Hamid Karzai. Some Taliban
officials have already resumed their political activities unhindered.
Six of the militia's senior officials have started a party in
southeastern Afghanistan. It is led by ahmed amin mujadidi, a
prominent cleric from Kabul," the report said.

The US has already pumped lot of money in Pakistan through
international institutions and European and Japanese allies to seek
its support in campaign in Afghanistan.

While hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters were escaping into snowy
mountains towards Pakistan as the battle to seize their mountainous
base appeared to be nearing a close, Afghan commanders said there is
no sign of the primary target of US operations, Bin Laden. "They have
escaped into the mountains." (PTI)

 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytas-12.18.01-08:28:52-7626