Taliban Detainee Claims Bin Laden Seen in Afghanistan

A Taliban detainee in Pakistan claims Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden was seen in Afghanistan in January or February of this year, the BBC reports. The inmate, who said he met bin Laden numerous times before the Sept. 11 attacks, said he met with a contact who had seen the Al Qaeda leader days before in Afghanistan. "In 2009, in January or February I met this friend of mine. He said he had come from meeting Sheikh Osama, and he could arrange for me to meet him," he said. The detainee reportedly said the contact is a Mehsud tribesman. "He helps Al Qaeda people coming from other countries to get to the sheikh, so he can advise them on whatever they are planning for Europe or other places,” he told the BBC. His claims couldn’t be verified, but a former CIA analyst told the BBC they should be probed. "If it's true—a big if—this is an extraordinary and important story," the analyst told the BBC. "The entire Western intelligence community, CIA and M16, have been looking for Osama Bin Laden for the last seven years and haven't come upon a source of information like this," he said.