Taliban chief ‘has not seen Bin Laden since 2001’
“No, I have neither seen him, nor have I made any effort to do so, but I pray for his health and safety” Omar said in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.
The questions were relayed to Omar through his spokesman, Mohammad Hanif.
A half-dozen audio tapes of bin Laden were circulated during the first half of 2006, but the al-Qaida leader last appeared on video tape in late 2004, while tapes of his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been issued regularly.
A video tape of bin Laden was released late last year, but it was identified as old footage, and the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States passed without word from the al-Qaida leader.
Speculation over the whereabouts and health of bin Laden boiled over in September when a French provincial newspaper reported that he had died of typhoid in late August.
Although several governments and intelligence agencies rebutted that report, saying they had no evidence to suggest bin Laden had died, they acknowledged they had no clue to where he was.
The wealthy Saudi-born bin Laden helped bankroll the Taliban after moving to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, and he was reported to have married one of Omar’s daughters to cement their alliance.
The United States has offered a $25 million reward for the capture of bin Laden and $10 million for Omar.
The best guess to bin Laden’s whereabouts remains somewhere on the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Although the Taliban and al-Qaida are seen as allies, Omar said his sole focus was Afghanistan while bin Laden’s movement was engaged in a global jihad, or holy war.
“They have set jihad as their goal, whereas we have set the expulsion of American troops from Afghanistan as our target,” he said.
