Bin Laden Hunt Continues 24/7, DoD Leaders Report
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2004 -- The manhunt for Osama bin Laden continues "every
day, 24 hours a day," the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan told NBC
News this week.
Army Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan,
said "a very, very dedicated, highly capable element" is committed to the
effort and they're "looking at the intelligence and … ready to respond."
This organization, he said, is dedicated to finding not only bin Laden, but
also other senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. These include Ayman al-
Zawahiri, indicted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S.
embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, and now believed to
serve as bin Laden's doctor and adviser.
Also on the coalition's "most wanted list" is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who the
State Department designated a terrorist earlier this year for his role in both
al Qaeda and Taliban activities.
Barno's comments, offered during an Oct. 7 interview focused on the third
anniversary of Operation Enduring Freedom and the Afghan national elections
Oct. 9, echoed those Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, delivered Oct. 4 to
the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Rumsfeld noted the contrast between bin Laden's station in life three years ago
and now. In 2001, Rumsfeld said, "Osama bin Laden was safe and sheltered in
Afghanistan (and his) network was dispersed around the world.
"Three years later, more than two-thirds of al Qaeda's key members and
associates have been detained, captured or killed," Rumsfeld continued. Osama
bin Laden is on the run. Many of his key associates are behind bars or dead.
His financial lines have been reduced, but not closed down.
"And I suspect," the secretary said, "he spends a good deal of every day
avoiding being caught."
Barno said he's witnessing "a tremendous amount of cooperation" between
coalition and Pakistani military units on both sides of the Afghanistan-
Pakistan border.
He said a Pakistani unit responded to a recent coalition request to move toward
the border and block the escape of terrorists trying to cross into Pakistan so
coalition troops could capture them. "So there's a great deal of cooperation,
far higher than we would have seen 12 months ago," he said.
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