How Hard Is the U.S. Looking?

This article discusses the futile hunt for Osama bin Laden as of 2004. It was inevitable that Democratic challenger John Kerry would sling out the questions during the debate: Where in the world is Osama bin Laden, and why hasn't the U.S. captured him? America's closest allies in the hunt seem unenthusiastic. Nearly three years after closing in on bin Laden and losing him in the Tora Bora mountains, Pakistani and Afghan intelligence officials claim that the trail is cold. The last credible sighting of the gaunt terrorist in chief was more than a year ago along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to a senior Pakistani intelligence official. U.S. officials refuse to comment on bin Laden intelligence, but they have long believed he is in the mountainous, lawless Pakistani border region of Waziristan. But a seven-month-long Pakistani offensive designed to flush bin Laden from Waziristan has come up empty. The U.S. has shifted its search strategy. Out of an estimated 18,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, some 5,000 are scrambling through the impossible terrain in places where bin Laden might be hiding. But most troops aren't just looking for him specifically. Instead, they are patrolling the border against incursions by Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. Rather than trek through the vast mountainous region hoping for a chance encounter, the U.S. command is now engaged in a slow but probably more effective tactic of trying to win over Pashtun villagers by digging wells and giving away tractors and generators. The hope is that someday a villager might trust the Americans enough to reveal some useful intelligence about bin Laden or other enemies.