NATO Official Claims Bin Laden Living Well In Pakistan

Some of us have drawn comfort from the thought that Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist apes have been camped out in mountainous caves, somewhere in Afghanistan, without the nice cozy amenities of home. But apparently that's not the case. According to NATO, he's living quite comfortably, thank you very much, somewhere in Pakistan although Pakistani officials are quick to claim they have no clue of his whereabouts, and that they are not giving the man 'safe haven'. I think most of us, deep down, know that this is probably not true, and that they do know exactly where he is hiding out.

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One NATO official told CNN that

"Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave," Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living comfortably in a house in the north-west of Pakistan protected by local people and elements of the country's intelligence services, according to a senior Nato official.

He added that Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command, was also living in a house close by somewhere in the country's mountainous border regions. However, the Nato official said bin Laden was thought to have ranged from the mountainous Chitral area near the Chinese border, to the Kurram Valley which borders Afghanistan's Tora Bora, one of the Taliban strongholds during the US invasion in 2001.

North Waziristan, in particular, has become a nexus for Afghan, Pakistani and Arab militants as they plot attacks against Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month a leaked White House report accused its ally Pakistan of playing a double game by avoiding "military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan".

Of course Pakistani officials categorically deny protecting him, but one has to wonder how he has managed to survive all these many years without some Pakistani complicity. Perhaps not top government officials, but there must be some who are making it easy for him to evade capture. Bin Laden should have been captured or dead a long time ago.

Of course Pakistani officials seem to think there's a reason why this information was released at this point in time.

A senior Pakistani security official denied that bin Laden was being protected and said the latest allegations were designed to heap pressure on Islamabad ahead of talks in Washington this week that would focus on strengthening co-operation between the two countries.

"Every time something important is happening then things like this keep creeping out," he said. "If it's not bin Laden it's something else."

There could be some truth to that, but I think it's far more likely that some officials are facilitating his comfortable existence in Pakistan.