By Lesley Wroughton
Reuters, 21 December 2005
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may no longer be able to run the militant network and has not been heard from for nearly a year, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday.
Rumsfeld said on a trip to Pakistan the Bush administration still considers it a priority to capture the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, who is believed to be hiding somewhere in mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
"I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him for close to a year," Rumsfeld told reporters en route to Islamabad.
"I don't know what it means, but I suspect in any event if he is alive and functioning that he is spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught," Rumsfeld said.
"I have trouble believing he is able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong," he said.
Rumsfeld's comments echoed earlier assessments by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, but contradicted the assertion of al Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video interview this month that bin Laden's battle against the West was only just beginning.
Said Rumsfeld: "We just don't know."
The most recent al Qaeda message from bin Laden came on December 27, 2004, with the broadcast of an audiotape in which he urged Iraqis to boycott elections the following month.
Rumsfeld's visit to Pakistan, an ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, is intended to reinforce America's support and assess U.S. relief operations after an October earthquake that killed 73,000 people. His visit comes a day after a similar trip by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Before flying on to Afghanistan, Rumsfeld toured a U.S. military field hospital in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and stopped in neighboring North West Frontier Province, which was also badly hit in the quake.
Rumsfeld posed for photographs with U.S. personnel and told them their efforts were appreciated both in Pakistan and in the United States.
The United States and its military have headed Western relief efforts for Pakistani earthquake victims, a gesture U.S. officials hope will improve Washington's image in the region.
Some key al Qaeda members, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have been captured in Pakistan, and President Pervez Musharraf recently announced that a senior al Qaeda figure, Abu Hamza Rabia, had been killed in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
As the United States helps Pakistan recover from the earthquake's devastation, Rumsfeld also said it was important that the world recognize the U.S. relationships with moderate Muslim countries like Pakistan.
"I'll leave it to the historians to say what happens, but certainly as a friend and partner in this effort, we are pleased to be working side-by-side with President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani military to do whatever can be done to reduce the suffering of so many Pakistanis," he said.
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Citation: Lesley Wroughton. "Bin Laden may be unable to command, Rumsfeld says," Reuters, 21 December 2005.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051221/ts_nm/security_binladen_dc_5
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