Special Forces Close To Al Qaeda Leaders

Nov 29, 2001

KABUL/DESERT STRIP - The forces hunting Osama bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said yesterday the two were alive in Afghanistan,

KABUL/DESERT STRIP - The forces hunting Osama bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said yesterday the two were alive in Afghanistan, as U.S. troops and tribal armies closed in on their suspected hideouts. Hemmed into a shrinking corner by nearly eight weeks of relentless U.S. bombing and ground offensives by their Afghan foes, the Taliban now face another threat — hundreds of U.S. Marines pouring into a remote desert airstrip within striking distance of the militia’s last stronghold, Kandahar. The U.S. flag was hoisted above the Marines Corp base yesterday by a lance corporal born in Kabul who fled the country in the 1980s after the Soviet invasion. “I’m coming back home,” said Ajmal Achekzai. Reuter Ends

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