WASHINGTON/KABUL, 2 January — US and Afghan forces are preparing a massive operation to flush out ousted Taleban leader Mulla Muhammad Omar, an Afghan intelligence chief said yesterday, as US Marines reportedly launched an operation to find him. Afghanistan’s new government yesterday defended the US bombing campaign which helped bring it to power, saying American planes had "no other choice" but to attack an eastern village despite innocent deaths.
Battle-ready US Marines have launched intelligence-gathering sweeps outside Kandahar, military officers said, amid what appeared to be a stepped-up hunt for Osama Bin Laden and Omar. The anti-Taleban intelligence chief in Kandahar, Haji Gulalai, said his forces were closing in on Omar and as many as 1,500 die-hard Taleban fighters who may be protecting him near the town of Baghran in Helmand province, 160 km northwest of Kandahar.
As moves to drive Omar out of his latest highland hide-out in the south of the country were stepped up, European defense officials said a multinational advance party was flying out to join a British-led security force in Kabul. Gulalai told reporters that the operation involving 4,000 to 5,000 Afghan soldiers backed by US Marines had originally been due to start early yesterday.
However, tribal leaders urged a postponement of "three or four days" to allow negotiations on a weapons handover, he said, denying reports the "cleanup operation" had already been launched.
"Tribal elders from Helmand province requested us not to launch this operation and have asked us to solve the issue of collecting arms and also the issue of Mulla Omar through talks and negotiations," he told AFP by telephone.
US military spokesman Maj. Brad Lowell said that US commander Gen. Tommy Franks had not yet launched a specific mission to target Omar, but added: "Events move quickly on the ground there."
Earlier, CNN had reported from Kandahar airport that "a couple of hundred" US Marines were carrying out an operation against a compound in Helmand province to "find intelligence relating to Al-Qaeda and the Taleban." CNN said the Marines had not been involved in any combat and were working alongside anti-Taleban forces loyal to Kandahar strongman Gul Agha.
Officials in Afghanistan’s new government have repeatedly claimed that Bin Laden has left Afghan territory for Pakistan along with many of his surviving Al-Qaeda fighters — a claim denied by Islamabad.
US network ABC News, quoting unnamed military officials, reported that US armed forces had "circumstantial but compelling" evidence that Bin Laden was alive and still in charge of his followers. The report quoted one of the officials as saying the US had intercepted Al-Qaeda communications originating in Iran.
