KABUL, June 23: The US military on Friday dismissed a media report citing intelligence suspicions that senior Al Qaeda leaders were hiding in Pakistan and that the Afghan president’s brother had ties to drug trafficking as being outdated.
But US spokesman Col Tom Collins declined to reject the authenticity of the report, saying he was unable to discuss classified military information. Afghan officials, however, rejected the claims against the president’s brother as baseless.
The American television network ABC reported on Thursday that it had obtained a computer flash drive stolen from the US base at Bagram, north of the Kabul, and sold at a nearby bazaar.
The ABC claimed the drive contained files indicating that American forces knew locations in Pakistan of where top Al Qaeda targets, including deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri, were hiding.
The US military said the information on the computer drive was at least 18 months old.
“This information was compiled during a time and environment that is significantly different from today and by personnel who have long since moved on,” the US military said in a statement.
The statement praised Pakistani security cooperation with the US military and Afghanistan’s government.
A document on the flash drive also alleged that the younger brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai received bribes from Afghan drug lords.
The brother, Wali Karzai, rejected the report as baseless, saying his “family morals” prevent him from dealing in drugs.
“They want to give my brother a bad name,” said Wali Karzai, who heads Kandahar province’s provincial council and the area’s tribal council. “I hate this business of drugs. I never do that.”—AP
