December 27, 2001	Thursday	Shawwal 11, 1422

WASHINGTON, Dec 26: US forces have been pressing their anti-Taliban Afghan allies to join in scouring Osama bin Laden’s last major redoubt for possible Al Qaeda holdouts, including Osama himself, a senior US defence official said on Wednesday.

But anti-Taliban forces have been reluctant to return to Tora Bora in large numbers, saying their work was done after hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters were routed from there this month, the official said.

“We’re always looking for (Osama) bin Laden,” said the official. He said US forces were prepared to resume sweeps in the area — in the White Mountains, 50kms south of Jalalabad — with anti-Taliban squads to check for any Al Qaeda survivors of fierce US airstrikes.

Late last week about 500 Marines were put on stand-by in Afghanistan for possible orders to help search the Tora Bora caves, but none had been deployed yet, the official said.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters on Friday that “whatever (force that) is needed will be sent” to hunt for clues that may help locate bin Laden and his top lieutenants or their bodies if they were killed.

On Monday, a defence official said “operations are imminent” in the Tora Bora area. On Tuesday, the US Central Command, which is running the US campaign, said plans were still in hand for a thrust into the caves.

On Wednesday, the senior defence official said the timing of the operation was up to Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who heads the Tampa, Florida-based Central Command.

It appeared to hinge on enlisting anti-Taliban allies, who were coached in the initial assault by elite US Special Operations forces, and the defence official said the United States had been working on persuading them to go back.

One option may be to use experimental “thermobaric” bombs to blast the air out of Tora Bora’s underground mountain warrens, killing anyone still holed up inside.

US warplanes typically had been returning from their sorties with as much as 85 percent to 100 percent of their bombs unused because of a lack of targets for the past five to seven days, the official said.

But he said pockets of al Qaeda resistance — which he guessed may number fewer than six throughout Afghanistan — remained an issue. He said the US ability to root out the holdouts was constrained by fears of hurting civilians.

“In some of the southern parts of Afghanistan, in Paktia province, we believe there are still pockets of al Qaeda,” Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Wednesday.

He said several active pockets were operating around Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban and their final stronghold until they surrendered on Dec. 7.

Eight wounded Arab Al Qaeda fighters armed with guns and grenades remain barricaded in a Kandahar hospital after a failed attempt by US-backed forces to flush them out.

DEPLOYMENT OF MARINES: The United States has no immediate plans to dispatch US marines in support of special forces and anti-Taliban allies in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.

Some 500 US Marines are reportedly on standby for rapid deployment to the mountains of eastern Afghanistan around Tora Bora.

However, whether or not the marines will move in has yet to be decided, said Major Brad Lewell, spokesman for the US Central Command.

“It does not mean the movement is imminent by any means. But if and when called, the marines could respond quickly and accomplish their mission there,” he said.

The deployment decision rests with Central Command chief General Tommy Franks, who directs US forces in Afghanistan

The marines “are trained to accomplish missions such as that, and if he feels the need to call these folks, he will do so,” said the spokesman.

US commandos working with anti-Taliban Afghan allies have been working from cave to cave in the Tora Bora area searching for bin Laden, wanted for allegedly masterminding the September 11 terrorist strikes against the United States that left some 3,000 people dead.

TALIBAN: Leaders of the ousted Taliban regime will be tracked down no matter where they are hiding and brought to trial, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on Wednesday.

“No matter what you (Taliban) will wear, we will recognise you,” Abdullah told a media conference.

“Whatever colours Taliban leaders put on will not hide them,” he added.

Taliban leaders are guilty of war crimes and would be tried before a war crimes tribunal, Abdullah said.

“All who have committed war crimes will be brought to trial,” he said.—Reuters\AFP