What's Become Of Al-Qaeda?

The U.S. has killed or seized hundreds of bin Laden's fighters, but many are still on the loose. A progress report on the war on terror

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    In Afghanistan pockets of al-Qaeda soldiers are thought to be holding out in the areas north of Mazar-i-Sharif, along the Pakistan border in the east and in the mountains of Helmand province. Local officials near Khost say as many as 2,000 al-Qaeda fighters--Chechens, Turks and various Arabs--shuttle across the Pakistan border for rest and resupply from their outposts in the remote mountain provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika. The local Afghan authorities say they are powerless to stop the guerrillas' movement. "We can control the main roads but not the mountain tracks," says Pacha Khan Zadran, the regional governor.

    The inability of the U.S.'s Afghan proxies to go after residual al-Qaeda forces has become all too familiar to American commanders and highlights the glaring weakness of the American strategy. The proxy army that helped minimize American casualties is also minimizing al-Qaeda arrests. Afghan warlords who once were U.S. allies are striking deals with Taliban officials, allowing some to go free, over Washington's objections. The U.S. can only surmise how many al-Qaeda commanders slipped out under the noses of local officials. Southern Afghanistan abounds with prepackaged escape routes, well worn by opium dealers and human traffickers. Akram told TIME that just before the surrender of Kandahar in December, "almost all the al-Qaeda leaders managed to get to other countries," employing smugglers to whisk them through the dozens of routes that lead into Pakistan. As recently as early January, a man described by Akram as "very senior al-Qaeda" managed to get out of Kandahar and cross into Pakistan. Why wasn't he stopped? "Nothing could be done," Akram said with a shrug.

    Now that the manhunt for bin Laden and his henchmen has widened beyond the borders of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its allies will rely heavily on the intelligence they can extract from prisoners like those taking up residence in chain-link cages at Guantanamo Bay. So far the majority of the detainees aren't singing. "We've got 5,000 guys in custody," a Pentagon official says, referring to enemy troops held by the U.S. and the Afghan government, "and most of them don't know anything." Interviews of prized prisoners are conducted by FBI agents accompanied by military analysts. The most exhaustive interrogations take place at Bagram, which has the largest number of interpreters; Abdul Salaam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, was moved to Bagram last week. A U.S. military official in Kandahar says the interrogations, while still "mostly rudimentary," have started to bear fruit. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Myers said, "We think we have thwarted some attacks" as a result of the prisoner interviews.

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