http://www.boston.com/news/daily/01/attacks_afghanistan.htm

US, anti-Taliban forces believe they are closing in on Mullah Omar

By Boston.com Staff and Wire Services, 01/01/02

WASHINGTON -- About 200 U.S. Marines searched a former Taliban and al-Qaida compound in southern Afghanistan Tuesday as the hunt for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar continued.

The Marines left their base in the southern city of Kandahar late Monday night in a convoy of vehicles, headed for the compound in Helmand province, said Maj. Brad Lowell, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. They and anti-Taliban Afghan forces were searching the fenced compound of about 14 buildings for information about the radical Islamic militia and the al-Qaida terrorists they harbored, Lowell said.

Another group of about 100 soldiers left the Kandahar base aboard Marine Sea Knight helicopters Monday evening. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim prime minister, said the troops were Marines helping in an operation to try to capture Omar, who has been missing since Kandahar fell to Karzai's forces in early December.

U.S. officials have refused to say who those soldiers were or what their mission was. Lowell said Tuesday he had no information about them. U.S. special forces would likely be involved in any search for the Taliban leader, helping to direct airstrikes and advising Afghan forces on tactics.

The Marines searching the former Taliban compound did not come under hostile fire, although they were equipped for combat and supported by strike helicopters, Lowell said. Tuesday's intelligence-gathering missions was the latest of about a dozen such missions the Marines have undertaken in the past several weeks, Lowell said.

Haji Gullalai, the anti-Taliban intelligence chief in Kandahar, told Agence France Press that Omar is believed to be hiding out in the Helmand province in Southern Afghanistan, Bloomberg News reported.

Gullalai said his forces were closing in on Omar and as many as 1,500 die-hard Taliban fighter who may be protecting him near the town of Baghran in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, 100 miles northwest of Kandahar.

Gullalai told Reuters he had asked villagers in Helmand to hand Omar over, and that discussions are being held to decide Omar's fate

"We have told them to give us Omar, but no ultimatum has been issued," he said. "We have two goals: to disarm irresponsible people and to get Omar, who is a criminal for the Afghan people and the whole world."

He said he and tribal allies had assembled a force of up to 2,000 fighters and they were ready to try to capture the fugitive if he was not handed over.

On Monday, a senior Defense Department official said there had been a "fairly consistent body of intelligence" suggesting Omar may be near Baghran, in the north of Helmand province.

Omar is second only to bin Laden on Washington's list of most-wanted men from the Afghan campaign. The U.S. launched its campaign in response to the Sept. 11 attacks that killed about 3,300 people in the United States.

In an interview with CNN in Kandahar, Gul Agha Shirzai, the U.S.-backed governor of Kandahar, said he had given an ultimatum to about 1,500 Taliban fighters in the Baghran area to lay down their weapons.

ABC's "World News Tonight" quoted unnamed senior military officials as saying communications had been intercepted by the United States from Iran within recent days that suggested bin Laden was still alive.

ABC said a caller in the intercepted communications, who used a code name to refer to bin Laden, said he should be kept off television because he looked sick and his appearance was demoralizing to his followers.

Meanwhile Tuesday, 25 suspected al-Qaida members captured in Pakistan arrived at the detention center on the U.S. base in Kandahar, Lowell said. They had been captured after heavy fighting last month drove them out of Afghanistan's Tora Bora region -- where U.S. officials believe bin Laden had stayed.

The new arrivals brought to 189 the number of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners at the Kandahar base. Another 12 prisoners are being held by the United States at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, and U.S. forces have one prisoner in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Eight prisoners, including American John Walker Lindh, are being held aboard U.S. Navy ships in the Arabian Sea. On Monday, they were moved from the USS Peleliu to the USS Bataan, Lowell said.

The Peleliu is home to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whose members are preparing to leave Kandahar and return to their ship. Soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division will take over for the Marines at the Kandahar base.

Other Marines at the Kandahar airfield are members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is based on the Bataan.

On Sunday, a U.S. spy drone crashed while returning from a mission in support of the war in Afghanistan, a Central Command statement said. The unmanned plane was not shot down, and its wreckage will be recovered, the statement said.

-- Anonymous, January 01, 2002

Answers

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/002/world/Intelligence_official_Negoti at:.shtml

Intelligence official: Negotiations begin for Mullah Omar's surrender

By Munir Ahmad, Associated Press, 1/2/2002 08:42

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) Negotiations for the surrender of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar are under way in southern Afghanistan, a commander for the local Afghan intelligence chief told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

''We have confirmed reports that Mullah Mohammad Omar is hiding somewhere in Baghran,'' said commander Jamal Khan, who added that Afghan military leaders have been negotiating for two days with Baghran's loya jirga, or grand council, of tribal leaders.

Khan was reached by telephone from the Pakistani capital.

A major military operation involving U.S. Marines and anti-Taliban soldiers began Monday. American troops in full combat gear were dispatched from the Marine base at Kandahar airport to northern locations near Baghran to capture Omar, second to Osama bin Laden on the U.S. list of most-wanted terrorist fugitives.

But Afghan interim Foreign Minister Abdullah said Wednesday that his government did not know where Omar was.

''I think Mullah Omar is still hiding somewhere in Afghanistan. His whereabouts is not known neither to us nor to the coalition, I gather,'' Abdullah, who uses one name, told ABC's ''Good Morning America. ''But sooner or later he will be captured.''

Omar's whereabouts has been unknown since Kandahar, the Taliban's last stronghold, fell in early December.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002

OTOH...

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/02/attacks_us_military.htm

Pentagon doubts Afghan report that Omar is negotiating for his surrender

By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 1/02/02

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department said Wednesday that it doubts negotiations under way for the surrender of Taliban forces include their leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Taliban fighters who have been holding out near the city of Baghran were negotiating with anti-Taliban forces, said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem.

"But I think its a leap of faith if we believe that that is on the behalf of Mullah Omar himself," Stufflebeem said. "These are Taliban forces looking to negotiate themselves out of a predicament."

A commander of the anti-Taliban forces, Jamal Khan, said his officials had confirmed that Omar was in hiding somewhere in Baghran, a mountainous region north of Kandahar.

Afghan military leaders have been negotiating indirectly with Omar for two days through Baghran's grand council of tribal leaders, said Khan.

But Stufflebeem said at a Pentagon news conference: "I don't know that there are ongoing negotiations specific to Omar."

Omar is wanted by the United States because his radical Islamic government has harbored Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network.

The last time surrender talks with Omar were announced, he slipped away from the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, where U.S. sources say virtually the entire Taliban leadership somehow managed to flee and leave the city to anti-Taliban fighters.

Stufflebeem said U.S. special forces were continuing to look for Omar and bin Laden. But he did not confirm Afghan reports that U.S. troops were participating in a major operation to capture Omar near Baghran.

Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command has confirmed that Marines searched a former Taliban and al-Qaida compound in southern Afghanistan.

Tuesday's intelligence-gathering mission by about 200 Marines was the latest of about a dozen such forays the Marines have undertaken in the past several weeks, said Maj. Brad Lowell, a spokesman for the command in Tampa, Fla.

The Marines left their base in the southern city of Kandahar late Monday night in a convoy of vehicles, headed for the compound in Helmand province, Lowell said. They and anti-Taliban Afghan forces were searching the fenced compound of about 14 buildings for information about the radical Islamic militia and the al-Qaida terrorists they harbored, Lowell said.

The Marines were equipped for combat supported by strike helicopters, Lowell said.

Another group of about 100 soldiers left the Kandahar base aboard Marine helicopters Monday evening. Lowell said he had no information about them. U.S. special forces likely would be involved in any search for the Taliban leader, helping to direct airstrikes and advising Afghan forces on tactics.

But Karzai, Afghanistan's interim prime minister, said the troops were Marines helping in an operation to try to capture Omar, who has been missing since Kandahar fell to Karzai's forces early last month.

Meanwhile, another 11 prisoners were handed over to the United States and taken to the detention center on the U.S. base in Kandahar, said Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.

The new arrivals brought the number of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners at the Kandahar base to 200 and in U.S. custody overall to 221.

Twelve prisoners were being held by the United States at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, and U.S. forces have one prisoner in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Eight prisoners, including American John Walker Lindh, were being held aboard the U.S. Navy's USS Bataan, after being moved early in the week from the USS Peleliu, Lowell said.

The Peleliu is home to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whose members are preparing to leave Kandahar and return to their ship. Soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division will take over for the Marines at the Kandahar base. Clarke said Wednesday morning that a couple hundred had arrived.

Other Marines at the Kandahar airfield are members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is based on the Bataan.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002