WASHINGTON, May 23: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday Osama bin Laden “is certainly not around Afghanistan or he would have been caught”. He said this in response to a question by Wolf Blitzer in Late Edition. He was asked: “There are certain parts of Afghanistan that are remote — along the border with Pakistan, for example. Do you fully control all those areas?”

His reply was: “There are remote parts of the country everywhere in that part of the world, but we can tell with certainty he’s not around Afghanistan. We’ll catch him if he ever comes in there.”

Asked if he had any idea where Osama was, he said: “Well, that we don’t know. We know this much that he cannot possibly be in Afghanistan.” About the possibility of “terrorists” mounting high-profile attacks in the country, Mr Karzai said the terrorists and their backers would try to make lections for parliament difficult.

“This is the last part of the Bonn process. With the successful parliamentary elections, Afghanistan will have completed the Bonn process, and that will be the last blow as well to terrorism in Afghanistan.” He added: “So they’re trying very desperately to show that they’re still there.” —APP