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28.09.01, 21:22
09/28/2001 - Updated 01:08 PM ET
Special forces hunt bin Laden
By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Elite troops from U.S. special operations forces have
been inside Afghanistan the past 2 weeks looking for Osama bin Laden, but
they're having difficulty locating him and are asking other nations for
additional intelligence help, senior U.S. and Pakistani officials have
confirmed privately. The presence of three-to-five member teams of U.S.
commandos inside Afghanistan has not been officially acknowledged by either
Pakistan or the United States. But their arrival here 2 weeks ago and
subsequent movement into Afghanistan have been reported by English- and Urdu-
language newspapers here, and would not come as a surprise to bin Laden or
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.
The teams have been told to capture or kill bin Laden or, if that is not
possible, pin him down in an area until U.S. air strikes can be launched, the
officials said.
Officially, the Pentagon declined comment. "I will not be able to provide any
information on operational matters," spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said
Thursday when asked about the special ops forces.
Pakistan has offered to share intelligence and allow U.S. jets to fly in its
airspace but hasn't said it would permit U.S. troops within its borders.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Riaz Muhammad Khan said there are no U.S. forces "on
the ground" in Pakistan, but he would not comment on whether troops landed here
and then moved into Afghanistan.
The lack of "real time" intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts has precluded
the possibility of an imminent U.S. attack on the man suspected to have
masterminded the terrorists attacks Sept. 11 on New York and Washington. The
United States has been moving dozens of aircraft, including B-52 bombers, into
the region in preparation for a retaliatory strike on bin Laden and the ruling
Taliban militia that has been harboring him.
U.S. officials said they have asked the governments of Pakistan, Russia and the
Central Asian nation of Tajikistan to share additional intelligence information.
"Unfortunately, we have told the United States that we do not have any 'real
time' information on Osama bin Laden or (his group) al-Qa'eda," Khan said. "We
are trying to locate him but right now, are unable to."
U.S. special operations forces from the Army and Air Force, and units of the
82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, landed here and in the city of Quetta on
Sept. 13, said Pentagon officials in Washington and Pakistani military
officials with direct knowledge of the operations. A command center has been
set up in the region to coordinate activities, Pakistani officials said.
Teams of three to five soldiers, backed by Blackhawk MH-60K helicopters kept at
airbases outside Afghanistan, then began deploying into that nation's
mountainous regions in an attempt to locate the elusive bin Laden, senior U.S.
and Pakistani officials said. They have been concentrating their searches in
caves and underground bunkers in southwest Afghanistan near the city of
Kandahar, the officials added. Bin Laden has long been known to operate in that
region.
Several elite U.S. and British military units are involved in the effort to
find bin Laden, including the Army's Green Berets, Navy SEALs and the British
army's Special Air Services, U.S. officials said.
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