For the longest time, it has been believed that Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Islamic terror network known as Al-Qaeda was hiding on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Before the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan back in 2001, Bin Laden has lived under the protection of the Taliban.
After the invasion, Bin Laden was reported to have been hiding out in the mountainous caves of Afghanistan. Bombing raids have been carried out. Bin Laden was wounded but remained alive. Afterwards, the efforts were focused on the invasion of Iraq back in 2003. Then, there was the presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Then it was believed that Bin Laden was hiding on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is established that the Taliban still has a strong presence in Pakistan. Recently, the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan wanted peace with the Pakistani government. However, the leader swore the jihad would continue in Afghanistan.
For the last few months, the political and security situation in Pakistan has been turbulent. This stems from the assassination of former Prime Minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto had returned October of 2007 from self-imposed exile in Dubai, UAE.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blames Pakistan’s Taliban for the assassination. It has been reported that Al-Qaeda has tried to get rid of Bhutto for many years.
On Tuesday, May 27, Afghan intelligence has reported that it has received information that dates back a few months ago on Osama Bin Laden. The information received explains that Bin Laden has been hiding in the northern part of Pakistan which borders with Afghanistan.
“We’ve received new information that he is hiding in Chitral. We got information about his presence in that area bout four, five months ago,” according to Afghan intelligence.
However, the data is five-months old. It is unknown if the information is still good. There is the fifty-fifty chance that Bin Laden is hiding in northern Pakistan or if he hiding in a different location.
In the case of the United States, this could be a possible and interesting discussion topic for the 2008 Presidential elections.