WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden was far from producing a nuclear weapon, an analysis of documents, materials and computer discs discovered in Afghanistan has concluded.
Investigators believe that bin Laden and his al Qaeda network may even have been duped into buying crude containers marked with skulls and crossbones, believing they were obtaining radioactive materials.
More than 110 Government buildings, military compounds, terrorist camps, safe houses and caves in Afghanistan have been searched for clues about al Qaeda's plans and development of advanced terror weapons. American intelligence officers and Special Forces found three containers whose contents were considered worrying enough to ship them back to America for more detailed analysis.
But the tests found no significant amount of radioactive material in the containers - two seized at the Taleban Ministry of Agriculture in Kabul and one at an al Qaeda compound close to Kandahar, according to the New York Times. It may be that the containers were dipped in medical waste to mark them with enough radioactivity to fool a Geiger counter.
The latest analysis by United States experts suggests that, despite its defeat in Afghanistan, the al Qaeda network still has the desire and resources to acquire a nuclear device or else a biological and chemical weapon.
- INDEPENDENT
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