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Laden still missing, but Tora Bora spoils proving useful in search
( 2001-12-19 15:08 ) (7 )

The fall of the Tora Bora mountaintop complex in eastern Afghanistan has not yielded Osama bin Laden, as many officials expected - but it may have turned up a number of his associates and clues to the possible whereabouts of the prime suspect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Intelligence sources told reporters they believe that they now have in custody some of Osama bin Laden's most senior people.

Although officials, lacking photographs and fingerprints, were having some problems identifying these individuals among the bedraggled masses, sources said other prisoners are starting to finger their former leaders and provide information on where bin Laden might be.

At the same time, administration officials appeared to be warning that the war on terrorism had a long way to go - and that it might go far from Afghanistan.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Tuesday warned countries against harboring bin Laden as he admitted al Qaeda cells were still operating in several countries.

"I just think any country in the world that would knowingly harbor bin Laden would be out of their minds," Wolfowitz told reporters. "I think they've seen what happened to the Taliban and I think that's probably a pretty good lesson for people not to do that."

Intelligence sources told reporters their best guess is that bin Laden is still in Afghanistan, but is most likely in high mountain passes, trying to walk out of the country to Pakistan.

Military sources said bad weather has obscured American surveillance efforts along the border, but teams of US special operations troops are in some of those high passes, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

FBI Arrives in Afghanistan

FBI agents are now in southern Afghanistan to help interrogate al Qaeda members who have been taken prisoner. Eight agents investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States arrived there late Monday.

"It's the first time we've been in a foreign country while bombs are falling since looking for Nazis in South America in the 1940s," FBI agent Thomas C. Knowles told reporters at the U.S. Marine base at the Kandahar airport.

In the Tora Bora mountain region, another 50 al Qaeda prisoners were pulled from some of the most remote caves Tuesday, unaware their brethren had abandoned them and were fleeing. Many of them may be moved to the new detention compound at the Khandahar airport, which received its first 15 battlefield detainees Tuesday.