U.S., Pakistan admit bin Laden trail is cold

LONDON - Pakistani and American officials said Tuesday the hunt for top al-Qaida and Taliban leaders would continue, but acknowledged the trail was cold.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said his forces believed they had nearly hunted down Osama bin Laden about 10 months ago, but had since lost track of him.

“Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al-Qaida members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed,” Musharraf told the British Broadcasting Corp. in an interview.

“We thought we knew roughly the area where he possibly could be. That was I think ... not very long (ago), maybe about 10 months back,” said Musharraf, a close ally of the United States.

The BBC quoted Musharraf as saying his forces had since lost track of bin Laden’s possible whereabouts.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he did not have any information on Musharraf's disclosure. But he said bin Laden "remains a high priority just like other al-Qaida leaders."

"He is someone that has been on the run," McClellan said. "We are dismantling the al-Qaida network. We have made important progress, but the war on terrorism continues. And we will stay on the offensive and take the fight to the enemy so we don't have to fight them here at home."

Officials: Bin Laden's role diminished
U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday that they do not disagree with Musharraf’s assessment that bin Laden's trail has gone cold over the past several months.

However, the officials also said that bin Laden no longer has day-to-day operational control over al-Qaida.

Bin Laden acts more like a non-executive chairman of the board rather than the chief executive officer.  Similarly, his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also appears to be operating less like a chief operating officer, the officials said.

The role of day-to-day leadership has been filled by Abu Faraj al Libi, the group's operations chief, a Libyan man in his forties long close to bin Laden and successor to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom who once served as deputy.

Pakistani officials have placed a $400,000 reward on his capture, mainly because he is viewed as the mastermind of the two failed assassination attempts on Musharraf in December 2003. 

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