Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and Taliban supremo Mullah Omar have escaped into Pakistan and are in hiding, media reports said.
With the fighting in Tora Bora nearing end without any trace of bin Laden, Washington Post Tuesday said, quoting Pakistani officials who spoke on conditions of anonymity, that the prime suspect in Sept 11 attacks in the US is hiding in Pakistan until a safer place is found for him and Mullah Omar is granted asylum.
Bin Laden, his top aides alongwith Omar's commanders and hundereds of their fol found, at least temporarily, safe haven in Pakistan after evading American attack targeted at them. Pakistan, as the creator of the Taliban, analysts have pointed out, has a huge stake in its continued well-being even in defeat which it hopes will be temporary. Its ambitions in Kashmir and dreams of Greater Pakistan are served by the Taliban remaining a viable entity and not by its destruction, it said.
"Unbelievably, not one top Cabinet Minister of Mullah Omar has been killed, arrested or defected to opposition forces during the two-month long, non-stop bombing, a senior Pakistani security official said. Bureau Report