BONN, Dec 2: Afghanistan has recently captured a close relative of Taliban chief Mullah Omar, but faces a long struggle to root out remnants of the Al Qaeda network, an adviser to US President George Bush said on Monday.
Zalmay Khalilzad, special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, said forces had captured the son- in-law of the Taliban supremo, who was toppled last year.
“There are continuing problems but we have had some successes in recent weeks and days,” Khalilzad said on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan in the former German capital Bonn. “For example, a few days ago Mullah Omar’s son-in- law was captured in Afghanistan.”
Omar, who led a hardline government, appears to have survived the fighting and a top al Qaeda official said in October that he was still alive.
“We don’t know for example where ( Osama) bin Laden is. I don’t think he is in Afghanistan probably. Mullah Omar is; it is assumed that he is in Afghanistan,” Khalilzad said.
“There are some figures that are in Afghanistan, but I don’t think that Afghanistan is any longer the headquarters of Al Qaeda.”
Today, the FBI believes that many of its “Most Wanted Terrorists” are still in or very near Afghanistan, having evaded a massive international manhunt.
Khalilzad said the hunt for Al Qaeda would be long and slow.
“With regard to Al Qaeda and terrorism, significant progress has been made,” he said. “But that is going to be a long-term effort, because as I said, going after individuals, small groups, networks, networks within networks is going to take a while.”
Nearly 8,000 US soldiers are among an international coalition in Afghanistan hunting remnants of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. Afghan forces say they are actively pursuing Omar, Osama and others.
“Some others have been captured too and you have heard about the capture of some key figures outside Afghanistan. So we are making progress,” Khalilzad said.—Reuters
