Omar Still Alive but Difficult to Aatch: Afghan DM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 22, 2002

Omar Still Alive but Difficult to Aatch: Afghan DM

Afghan Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim said in Kabul Wednesday that Mullah Mohammad Omar was still alive, but he denied reports that Afghan authorities cannot control the whole country.

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Afghan Defence Minister Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim said in Kabul Wednesday that Mullah Mohammad Omar was still alive, but he denied reports that Afghan authorities cannot control the whole country.

At a joint press conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolay Svinarov and Chief of Staff General Nikola Kolev, Fahim asserted that Omar was still alive, but he did not know whether Osama ben Laden, the suspected mastermind of the disastrous September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, was alive or not.

He told reporters that it was very difficult to catch Mullah Mohammad Omar or Osama ben Laden because they frequently changed their hiding place.

"Ben Laden or Mullah Omar has no specific place or specified area where we can find them. They are transferring and changing their places from site to site. They are in nomadic circumstances.Even the coalition forces can not find them," he said.

Asked to comment on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's assertion that al-Qaeda and the Taliban were making a comeback in Afghanistan because of lack of strength of the Afghan central government, Fahim said the saying was "unacceptable."

"Regarding the saying of President Musharraf that the Afghan central government has no authorities on regional provinces, it isunacceptable," he stressed. "We have our control similarly and parallel all over the country and all parts of the country."

"So far as the re-organizing of the al-Qaeda and the Taliban isconcerned, no doubt there are some unspecified areas in southern part of the country, where they exist."

He also rebutted a recent report that massive grave of captiveskilled by the former Northern Alliance had been found in northern parts of Afghanistan.

During the press conference, the defence minister thanked Bulgarian government for its contributions to the anti-terrorist war, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and the formation of Afghan national army.

Bulgaria contributes 32 troops to the multinational peacekeeping force in Kabul, which is under the command of Turkey.

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