Bin Laden increasingly isolated, uses courier, military official says

WASHINGTON – Pakistan’s military has been so effective in pressuring al Qaeda leaders hiding in the tribal region of western Pakistan that Osama bin Laden and his top deputies no longer are able to direct terrorist operations, a senior American commander said Thursday.

“They are living in the remotest areas of the world without any communications – other than courier – with the outside world or their people and unable to orchestrate or provide command and control over a terrorist network,” said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy commander of Central Command.

“They are basically on the run and unable to really conduct operations except, in the very long term, provide vision and guidance as Osama bin Laden does when he provides one of those tapes,” he added, alluding to a bin Laden videotape released three weeks ago.

Bin Laden has been on the run since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.

In a question-and-answer session at the Foreign Press Center, Smith said that for the first time since Pakistan was enlisted as a U.S. ally against al Qaeda, the Pakistani military forces hunting for al Qaeda figures will remain in the western tribal region through the winter.

South Waziristan, a semiautonomous tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, long has been regarded as one of the most likely hiding places for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, although there has been no solid intelligence to confirm that.