Taliban supporter strolls into base to face a curious lot

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- U.S. investigators on Wednesday questioned a man who described himself as a financial supporter of the Taliban and showed up voluntarily at the biggest U.S. base in Afghanistan offering information.

Pentagon officials said the man had given money to the Taliban but had not been a member of the Islamic regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. It was not known what information he had about the complex web of support of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, which was sheltered by the Taliban.

Lt. James Jarvis, a Marine spokesman, said the man showed up Tuesday at the Kandahar airport, where thousands of U.S. troops are based and a detention center holds hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

Jarvis said investigators were "jumping with joy."

After more than 100 days of war and weeks of speculation that they may have escaped, Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Omar, the top two fugitives the U.S. war on terrorism, are likely still in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday.

"We still believe they're in the country," Rumsfeld said. "We're still working on that basis, although we are looking at some other places as well, from time to time."

Rumsfeld's comments were the first in more than a week from a senior U.S. official on the whereabouts of bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaida terrorist network, and Omar, leader of Afghanistan's deposed Taliban regime. They followed statements by Pentagon officials 10 days ago that they would no longer speculate on the two figures' location, a stance other officials acknowledged was taken out of concern that this would be calling attention to the failure to capture them.

Pentagon officials reiterated Wednesday that they were not using the hunt for bin Laden and Omar as the sole yardstick to measure progress in the war against terrorism.

In other developments:

Pashtun tribal leaders in eastern Afghanistan have largely refused to cooperate with U.S. special operations forces in their hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, weapons caches and intelligence that could prevent future terrorist attacks, military officials said.

The rebuff, which comes as the Pentagon disclosed the discovery near Kabul of two canisters that could contain deadly chemicals, has left U.S. forces with few Afghan allies in one of the most dangerous regions of the country.

Rumsfeld said U.S. Special Forces in the Philippines, now numbering between 240 and 250, will work with Filipino forces to develop strategies against the extremist Abu Sayyaf group.

Rumsfeld said U.S. intelligence has established clear links between Abu Sayyaf and Osama bin Laden, head of al-Qaida, the organization believed responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

"More are going in," Rumsfeld said. "The important thing about what's taking place in the Philippines is that this is a global problem."

Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are holding an American couple and a Filipina nurse hostage on Basilan Island. A U.S. military advance team of a few dozen special operations soldiers is working on Basilan, the lead element in a group that will eventually grow to about 600.

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