http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/18/world/nation-challenged-missing-mullah-taliban-leader-hiding-mountain-province-near.html

December 18, 2001

Taliban Leader Is Hiding in Mountain Province Near Kandahar, Afghan Official Says

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 17 -- Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban's paramount leader, is hiding in a mountainous region not far from his former headquarters here, the region's intelligence director said today.

After the surrender of Kandahar more than a week ago, Mullah Omar retreated into the mountains near Baghran, about 100 miles northwest of here, in neighboring Helmand Province, said Hajji Gullalai, the newly appointed director of intelligence for four provinces in southern Afghanistan.

Mr. Gullalai said Mullah Omar was accompanied by at least 400 soldiers. Witnesses had reported seeing him flee Kandahar, the last Taliban stronghold, in a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers, Mr. Gullalai said, but he declined to say what the evidence suggested -- that he was in Baghran.

''We're sure that he is in that area,'' Mr. Gullalai said, adding that he had passed the information to the American authorities here. He described Mullah Omar as ''an international war criminal.'' But he said that capturing him was not a priority for the region's new government, led by Gul Agha Shirzai, who has become the governor of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul.

''Once we get complete control of Kandahar, we will move to Helmand,'' Mr. Gullalai said. Asked whether he was afraid that Mullah Omar might leave Baghran, Mr. Gullalai answered that Mullah Omar had nowhere else to go.

Perhaps the lack of urgency expressed by the region's authorities reflected their doubts about this information, notwithstanding Mr. Gullalai's assurances to the contrary. Perhaps it underscored their ambivalence toward Mullah Omar, their fellow Pashtun, who is still believed to command respect in the Pashtun heartland of southern Afghanistan. Or perhaps it reflected the murky deal-making under which Kandahar was surrendered.

Even Hamid Karzai -- the designated leader of Afghanistan's interim government, whom the United States gave diplomatic backing -- had said he would consider amnesty for Mullah Omar if he renounced terrorism, then changed his position after the announcement drew strong criticism from Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, the deputy director of operations for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today in Washington that the United States suspected that Afghan opposition leaders had freed senior Taliban leaders wanted by the Americans. He said Afghanistan ''has a history built on bartering, and allegiances can be bought, and so we suspect that that has in fact been happening.''

He added, ''We have seen anecdotally the instances where there were a lot of Taliban forces in Kandahar, and when they actually capitulated control of Kandahar, there weren't that many forces to be found.''

The United States does not know Mullah Omar's location, Admiral Stufflebeem said, adding that there were indications that he might still be in the area.

The whereabouts of the reclusive Taliban leader, seen by few despite his seven years in power, has remained a central conundrum of the fall of Kandahar. How did he manage to flee a city that was surrounded by opposition forces from nearly all sides? Who helped him escape? Did the surrender negotiators, including Mr. Karzai, intentionally leave his fate unresolved in the agreement so as to allow him to escape?

Commanders loyal to Mr. Shirzai agree on this much: Mullah Omar remained in Kandahar until its surrender, then escaped, probably with the help of Mullah Naqibullah, a local warlord who was an intermediary between the Taliban and Mr. Karzai.

Flight never seemed far from his mind. Less than a mile behind his sprawling compound here, a hole on a mountainside represents the mouth of an escape tunnel through the mountain rock. American airstrikes, apparently aimed at sealing the hole, have strewn the area with boulders. The Taliban leader apparently never used the tunnel in the end.

A former guard at Mullah Omar's gate said the leader left immediately after a nighttime raid by American forces, apparently the one on Oct. 20. The man, who later became a soldier for Mr. Karzai and now commands 10 men in the police force, said that during his eight months as a guard, a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers with tinted windows left the house and returned at least once a day.

He said he saw Mullah Omar only once, in the fourth vehicle of the convoy.

In the days leading up to Oct. 20, the former guard recalled, Mullah Omar had sent two of his three wives to Pakistan.

Heavy bombing preceded the arrival of the American soldiers on Oct. 20, the former guard said. Then three helicopters landed. He said the fighting continued until a reinforcement of Taliban soldiers arrived from the center of the city and the American soldiers left in their helicopters.

Mullah Omar ''lost a son during that attack and he moved out after that,'' the former guard said. ''After the attack, Mullah Omar would send a convoy to the house every day to show that he was still there. But the people working there, we knew he was not in the house.''

The authorities here believe, however, that Mullah Omar was still in Kandahar when senior Taliban officials went to negotiate a surrender with Mr. Karzai, who was in Shawalit Kowt, about 18 miles north of here.

Even when senior Taliban officials went to accept the surrender agreement on Dec. 6, Mullah Omar's fate was left unresolved.

Under the agreement, the Taliban surrendered power to Mullah Naqib ullah, the same man who had surrendered Kandahar to the Taliban in 1994. He was known to be close both to the Taliban and to Mr. Karzai.

The friendly intermediary and the vagueness surrounding Mullah Omar's fate averted a violent reaction from Taliban officials, most of whom simply left Kandahar quietly.

''Hamid Karzai was saying he did not want to fight,'' said Khan Muhammad, 40, the chief of defense of the four southern provinces. ''Maybe there was an agreement to let Mullah Omar go.''

A top commander for Gul Agha Shirzai, Diaro Khan, 60, was the first to enter Kandahar, with his 1,000 men, about 11 p.m. on Dec. 7. Early that morning, he said, Mullah Omar fled.

Because opposition forces had been advancing toward Kandahar from the north, east and south, Mullah Omar could only flee west, Mr. Khan said.

Mr. Khan said that Mullah Omar was hiding in the mountains of Helmand Province under the protection of a senior Taliban leader from that area, named Abdul Waheed but known as Rais Baghran.

And who helped Mullah Omar flee?

''He was helped by Mullah Naqib ullah,'' said Mr. Gullalai, the intelligence director.

Over the weekend, as guest after guest visited Mullah Naqibullah's house for the Id al-Fitr festivities marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, kissing his hand as they bowed before him, he waved away those suggestions.

''I was not close to the Taliban. I was not a Taliban minister,'' Mullah Naqibullah said. ''I don't know where he has gone. I don't know where he is. I don't know where he was before.''

Casting his eyes to the floor, he added, ''I never met Mullah Omar.''