Bin Laden 'allowed to flee'

Osama bin Laden

KABUL - Osama bin Laden was provided safe passage to Pakistan in 2001 by Afghan commanders paid by al Qaeda and sympathetic to its cause, a senior Afghan has said.

Lutfullah Mashal, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman, said commanders helped the al Qaeda leader escape Tora Bora as US aircraft and Afghan forces attacked his hideout near the border in late 2001.

"The help was provided because of monetary aid availed by al Qaeda and also partly because of ideological issues," Mashal said. "Osama along with other al Qaeda people managed to go to Parachinar [in Pakistan]."

He said commanders loyal to Maulvi Yunus Khalis had helped the al Qaeda leader escape. The whereabouts of Khalis, a top mujahideen leader, is unknown.

Mashal said US forces made a mistake in entrusting the capture of bin Laden to the Afghans. He said he was present at Tora Bora, and the US presence was restricted to special forces disguised as Uzbek soldiers.

While 800 or 900 Arabs fled Tora Bora for Pakistan's Khyber tribal area, senior al Qaeda leaders trekked to Parachinar on foot or horseback with the help of tribal elders.

Mashal suspected the al Qaeda leader was still moving around Pakistan's tribal lands. "His exact location is not clear for he is on the move and guarded."

- REUTERS