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Conflicting Reports on U.S. Forces Capture In Afghanistan
KABUL, Sept 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Taliban's official news agency Saturday denied reports that three U.S. commandos and two Afghans holding U.S. citizenship had been arrested in western Afghanistan.
"This is not true. We haven't arrested anybody," said an official at the Taliban's Bakhtar news agency.
He said Taliban leaders in the southern stronghold of Kandahar and the western city of Herat had dismissed the reports, which appeared Saturday on Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV.
But al-Jazeera stood by its report, countering a denial by the Taliban.
Al-Jazeera's correspondent in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, Ahmad Zaidan, said in a live broadcast that "three members of the U.S. 'special forces' and two Afghans holding U.S. citizenship were captured by the al-Qaeda organization in Helman, near the border with Iran."
The correspondent attributed his information to "unimpeachable sources."
He said "the sources, citing a military official in Al-Qaeda, called Al-Jazeera's office in Peshawar to announce the capture.
"Our correspondent in Islamabad cited sources in Afghanistan as saying that the Afghan security services have arrested five armed persons in Helmand, adjacent to the border with Iran. They are three Americans and two Afghans," al-Jazeera said.
"The three Americans are from the U.S. Special Forces," the correspondent quoted the source as saying.
"They had some modern weapons and some maps of al-Qaeda sites. They were on a reconnaissance mission to know the territory of al-Qaeda".
Bin Laden has in the past sent information about al-Qaeda's activities and views to the al-Jazeera station.
The correspondent said pictures of the detainees would be published "soon," adding that the two Afghans holding American citizenship had "trained with U.S. 'special forces'."
Bin Laden is wanted "dead or alive" by the United States for his alleged role in the September 11th terrorist attacks in Washington and New York.
A senior White House official has confirmed that U.S. and U.K. special forces have been operating within Afghanistan, BBC online news service reported.
The commandos are carrying out scouting and reconnaissance missions, but are not actively hunting for bin Laden, an unnamed official said.
In Washington, the Pentagon refused to confirm or deny the reports.
"We're not going to get into the habit of commenting on every story that comes out of that region. It's a slippery slope once we start getting into that habit," a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said.
The United States is deploying a huge arsenal in preparation for retaliating for the unprecedented jetliner bombings, which left nearly 7,000 people dead. Afghanistan is a presumed target, as the Taliban have refused to hand over bin Laden.
There have been reports that small teams of U.S. and British commandos have been operating inside Afghanistan for two weeks, but U.S. officials have refused to comment on force deployments in the region.
However, U.S. President George W. Bush suggested Friday that covert operations had begun.
"I said loud and clear, sometimes people will be able to see what we do on the television screens. At other times, the American people won't be able to see what we're doing," he told reporters.
"But make no mistake about it, we're in hot pursuit," Bush said, adding: "there is no negotiation with the Taliban."
Britain said Saturday it was seeking clarification of the reported capture of U.S. commandos in Afghanistan.
On Friday, Bush said he was most pleased with the cooperation the U.S. was getting from countries in the Middle East for its global campaign against terrorism.
He held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, who offered the United States his full and unequivocal support, saying those who had carried out the attacks had acted "completely against all the principles that Arab and Muslims believe in".
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