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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 1, 2001
WASHINGTON -- Rebel forces in Afghanistan spotted Osama bin Laden in early October and shared the information with the U.S.-led coalition fighting the international war on terrorism, a rebel spokesman said Wednesday.
Haron Amin, a Washington-based envoy with the Northern Alliance, the main opposition group in Afghanistan, said intelligence developed "on the ground" tracked bin Laden to Oruzgan province north of Kandahar, the Taliban's religious center.
At the daily Pentagon news briefing, Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem said he could not confirm Amin's account.
Amin, however, said rebel forces actually saw bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Northern Alliance representatives passed along the tip to the coalition days before the air war started Oct. 7, Amin told reporters at a packed news conference at the National Press Club.
Noting the mobility of bin Laden, Amin said he did not know if the Northern Alliance was aware of his whereabouts today. "Any information on bin Laden is being shared with the coalition," he said.
At the Pentagon, Stufflebeem said he was not familiar with the information Amin cited.
"I've seen many reports over the last numbers of days, I haven't counted it, where people (say) Osama bin Laden either was or may have been, but I've not specifically heard that report," he said.
Asked if the reports he had seen placed bin Laden north of Kandahar, Stufflebeem said, "Yeah, consistently they've been Kabul, Kandahar area."
Privately, U.S. officials question the veracity of Northern Alliance declarations.
Recently, on at least two occasions, their information has been right on the mark.
For example, hours before the air war began, it was the Northern Alliance that broke the news to the world. Two days later, in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Amin's colleague, Daoud Mir, said U.S. forces already were on the ground with the Northern Alliance. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed that "a modest" number of U.S. Special Operations Forces were on the ground with rebel units.
According to Newsweek magazine, U.S. intelligence officials last month concluded they had pinned down bin Laden's location to a "20-by-20-mile area" in Afghanistan. The magazine quoted a source as saying that the area was so full of caves and tunnels it was "impossible to seal."
A U.S. mission into Afghanistan Oct. 19 was aimed at getting better intelligence to better track bin Laden and his lieutenants.
During the news conference, Amin touched on several subjects, including the need for U.S. military supplies and humanitarian aid to stave off massive starvation.
He also urged the U.S.-led coalition to fight during Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, which begins in mid-November, to keep the Taliban from regrouping. "This is a month for fasting," Amin said. "This is not a month in which you stop combatting terrorism."
Amin also pleaded with the United States for military equipment, including tanks and helicopters and weapons and ammunition.
On Tuesday, Rumsfeld said Special Operations Forces were working with the rebels to, among other things, establish supply routes and improve communications with American commanders.
Amin said the Northern Alliance had enough men to achieve military success in Afghanistan, without shedding any more foreign blood. In other words, he said, there is no need for a massive buildup by coalition forces.
"What we are saying specifically," Amin said, "give us the tools and let us finish the job."