Afghans vow to find Omar

Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s interim leader promised Sunday that fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar will be tracked down, even as reports said the one-eyed cleric may have eluded capture and fled to another province.

Meanwhile, American officials said the highest-ranking Taliban official in U.S. custody — former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef — has been moved to an American warship.

Visiting an orphanage in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said that Omar, America’s most wanted man after Osama bin Laden, will be taken into custody when found.

"We are looking for him, and we will arrest him," Karzai said.

Omar appeared to have eluded capture in Baghran, in mountainous central Afghanistan, where government officials claimed a few days ago he was surrounded by anti-Taliban forces negotiating his surrender. Omar’s close associate, Abdul Wahid, is the tribal chief there.

Reports from some former Taliban soldiers say Omar and his former intelligence chief, Abdul Razzak, may be in Zabul province, north of Kandahar.

Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday officials are beginning to believe that bin Laden has fled Afghanistan, possibly for Pakistan.

Sen. John Edwards, traveling with other senators in the region, told "Fox News Sunday" that Uzbekistan’s military intelligence service believes bin Laden has crossed into Pakistan. Uzbekistan, like Pakistan, borders Afghanistan and has been a U.S. ally in the military campaign.

"I fully expect the Pakistanis will do everything they can to help us locate bin Laden," Edwards, D-N.C., said.

Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Graham, D.-Fla., said bin Laden and other top officials probably have escaped Afghanistan, but no one is certain.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported Sunday that U.S. forces and their Afghan allies, backed by airstrikes, were carrying out operations in the Spinghar mountain range of eastern Afghanistan near Jalalabad, where al-Qaida holdouts were suspected to be hiding. It said 40 were arrested and handed over to the Americans.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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