Omar: All for the cause. (Below) Osama: Still elusive

Peshawar, Jan. 4 (Reuters): Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar has added to the mystery over Osama bin Laden, saying he has not seen his ally and fellow fugitive since US-backed forces ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan in late 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 sent by Reuters.

The questions were relayed to Omar through his spokesman Mohammad Hanif, and a reply was received late yesterday.

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 US passed without any word from the al Qaida leader.

Speculation over the whereabouts and health of Osama boiled over in September when a French provincial newspaper reported that he had died of typhoid in late August.

Though several governments and intelligence agencies rebutted that report, saying they had no evidence to suggest Osama had died, nor did they have any clue to where he was.

Omar said people from the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the border were rallying to the Taliban’s cause.“The people themselves have risen up to fight the Americans,” he said.

“I would like to say that without any doubt the people of the region are behind us, but not based on tribal loyalty, but because of their national and Islamic spirit.”

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.

To start a political process to end the militancy, Pakistan and Afghanistan plan to organise tribal councils — known as jirgas — on both sides of the border.

A Taliban spokesman last month said the group might join the jirgas if asked, but Omar rejected the proposal. “The only people who would participate are those who have sold out to foreign powers.”