U.S. Expands Bin Laden Search Worldwide
W A S H I N G T O N , Dec. 10 -- U.S. officials are spreading a wide net outside Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden and leaders of his al Qaeda organization.
"We are thinking — we're not only thinking, we're doing — is to try to observe, surveil possible escape routes, possible sanctuaries," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a briefing today. Although no senior al Qaeda members have been captured in the two-month war against terror, Wolfowitz said at least one and possibly as many as three senior Taliban officials are in U.S. custody.
Somalia, the East African nation is where 18 U.S. servicemen were killed in a botched mission against a local warlord in 1993, has emerged as a prime area of U.S. focus.
ABCNEWS has learned that CIA teams have visited tribal warlords there in the last week to explore new ways to cooperate — including employing a strategy that worked well against the Taliban — bribes.
The country still has no real central government, and U.S. officials believe bin Laden also has strong financial interests in Somalia, so they suspect he may try to use it as a new safe haven.
A British warship, working with an American submarine, is now tracking suspicious commercial ships off the coast of Somalia, which is just across the Arabian sea from Pakistan, sources said.
From the Mountains to the Desert
Off the coast of Pakistan, a new multinational effort is under way to stop and question ships on which bin Laden, the prime suspect for the Sept. 11 attacks, or his followers may be seeking safe passage.
Pakistan is seen as the most likely way for bin Laden to escape neighboring Afghanistan, where U.S. officials believe he is currently hiding.
Bin Laden also could hide in Pakistan itself. In fear of such an event, the Pakistani government has added 1,000 troops plus helicopter gunships to the rugged terrain of the border with Afghanistan.
U.S. officials said they suspect bin Laden might also try to run to Chechnya in Russia, or Yemen or Sudan, where he has lived before.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live