WASHINGTON: Afghanistan's former Intelligence Chief says he knew Osama Bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan four years ago, but Pakistan's leaders rejected his claims. In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' “60 Minutes,” Amrullah Saleh says Afghan intelligence thought Bin Laden was in the Pakistani city of Mansehra, about 19 km away from Abbottabad, where the terrorist leader was eventually found and killed by US Navy SEALs. Saleh has become a prominent critic of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban. He says Pakistan should be recognized by the United States as “a hostile country.” He told CBS: “They take your money. They do not co-operate. They created the Taliban. They are number one in nuclear proliferation.” Meanwhile, the second-ranking US general in Afghanistan said Monday it was too early to tell if the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan will have an impact on the Afghan war effort. Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, who is in charge of NATO's joint command, said that Al-Qaeda as a movement was not based on bin Laden's leadership alone, and that the military has been waiting to see how his May 2 death will affect the strength of the terror group and its influence in Afghanistan. He said Bin Laden's killing by US Navy SEALs in the garrison city of Abbottabad had “no affects that we can see at this point. It's too early to see that, but we are continuing to watch that over time.” According to Rodriguez, Al-Qaeda has fewer than 100 operatives in Afghanistan, mostly providing support and resources to insurgents. “The Al-Qaeda movement is not based on just one individual and we will have to see what that impact is ...and how much that will be on the strength of Al-Qaeda and associated movements. But that is yet to be seen,” Rodriguez said. There has been hope that the killing of Bin Laden will weaken the terror group's connections with the Taliban, especially with leaders such as Mullah Mohammed Omar who had personal ties to the dead Al-Qaeda leader. Pakistan may also feel pressured to help bring some Afghan Taliban leaders to the negotiating table. The Taliban's leadership is thought to be hiding in Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has often called on Pakistan for help with the Taliban, has been pushing for reconciliation with the insurgents. The United States has also been promoting what it has called a diplomatic surge to help find a nonmilitary solution to the fighting. Rodriguez predicted that violence would increase further this summer as the Taliban try to retake territory they lost in southern Kandahar and southwestern Helmand provinces in the past year. Four US soldiers killed Four American soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan died Monday in an explosion in the country's south, NATO and a defense department official said, bringing home the human cost of the US-led push into Taliban strongholds. The official said they were hit by an improvised explosive device. He spoke on condition of anonymity because relatives of those killed were still being notified. The latest deaths make a total of 16 NATO service members killed so far this month, and 167 so far this year.
