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CNN Sunday Morning

Pentagon Still Searches for bin Laden

Aired February 24, 2002 - 08:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon has not given up the hunt for Osama bin Laden, but the question remains: where is he? One published report said the suspected terrorist mastermind may still be hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan.

CNN's Chris Burns is in Karachi, Pakistan this morning and he has more on this report.

Hi Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well that's a very, very difficult and complex job -- increasingly complex for the United States to try to track down Osama bin Laden on either side of this border here. In Afghanistan, of course, the air strikes against various areas where it is believed Osama bin Laden had been hiding -- or some of his associates -- that has caused some civilian casualties that's causing some increasing criticism.

Along the border area -- that is an area that is guarded by Pakistani -- for the most part, Pakistani troops, many of them ill- trained, many of them ill-equipped, some -- many very underpaid and thus susceptible to bribery. On this side of the border, Pervez Musharraf, who is the president, has been cracking down both on militants and on the intelligence agency, the ISI. Or at least trying to restructure it because there are believed to be sympathies not only among the militants, but also perhaps among elements within the ISI for militants that had been fighting in Afghanistan. So that is an effort that is very, very difficult for Musharraf and perhaps also complicates the efforts of trying to track down Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda.

Along with those sympathies are backlash against that crackdown that Musharraf is trying to undertake. And backlash perhaps that could have caused the kidnapping and killing of Daniel Pearl by these groups that Daniel Pearl apparently was trying to track down and find a link between al Qaeda groups and the alleged shoe bomber, Richard Reid. The -- also the question of Kashmir, because there are militants working in Kashmir with -- that had been at least with the support of some elements within ISI. And there is talk about how perhaps Osama bin Laden could be hiding in Indian-controlled and disputed Kashmir.

So a lot of elements there; a lot of places where Osama could be hiding. And very, very complicated not only for Washington, but also for the Islamabad government, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Chris Burns, live from Karachi. Thank you so much.

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