U.S., Russia joint strategy to attack Osama?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV.25. The U.S. and Russia are planning a joint military strategy against Afghanistan in their pursuit of the exiled Saudi terrorist, Osama bin Laden, The Times reported today in an investigation quoting senior U.S. and Russian officials. An attack on Osama bin Laden's suspected bases in Afghanistan might be imminent, the newspaper said though what form it might take was not clear.

According to the report, there was a strong possibility of one of the two countries launching an attack with the approval of the other. ``....all the signs point to intensifying preparations for an attack on Afghanistan by America or Russia that would have the full support of the other'', the newspaper said in a special two- page story, ``Russia and America become allies in battle against the Muslim Pimpernel''.

The report quoted the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton, as saying that an attack with Cruise missiles or other weapons was ``an option.'' Another option was to secure Russian support from one of the Central Asian States of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Krygyzstan.

In Moscow, the Russian Defence Minister, Marshal Igor Sergeyev, reportedly hinted that ``some kind of action against Afghanistan'' was imminent. He described Afghanistan as the centre of international terrorism, and a base for dispatching terrorists to various parts of the world ``from Kosovo to Malaysia and to the north Caucasus as well.''

He plans to beef up defences in south-west Russia and on the borders of Central Asia. While Russians hold Bin Laden responsible for arming the Chechen rebels and backing militant groups in Central Asia, Americans want him in connection with the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, where more than 200 people were killed. Americans also link him with the attack last month on ``USS Cole'' in Aden harbour in which 17 American sailors were killed.

The newspaper said senior Taliban officials threatened retaliation if there was an attack on Afghanistan.

Reuters reports:

The Prime Minister of Yemen, Mr. Abdul Karim al-Iryani, said that investigators had concluded that Bin Laden was indirectly involved in the bombing of the U.S. warship Cole that killed 17 sailors, but were yet to find hard evidence.

``Investigations into the USS Cole blast have revealed that the two men who carried out the operation were Saudis of Yemeni origin,'' the London-based Arabic daily Asharq-al Awsat quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

``Investigators also found that Osama Bin Laden, who is also of Yemeni origin, was also involved in the attack on the destroyer, even if indirectly. But the investigation has not found evidence of this yet,'' Mr. Iryani said.

Saudi Arabia's media today quoted a Foreign Ministry source saying there was no evidence that the two were Saudi nationals.

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Section  : International
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