KABUL, Afghanistan (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The United States and its allies moved to seal off potential escape routes Osama bin Laden could use to leave Afghanistan.``They keep tracking and dodging and bobbing and weaving, and we're looking,'' Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said when asked how close the military was to finding bin Laden and his entourage.
The U.S. Navy gave notice Tuesday that it will stop and board merchant shipping off the Pakistani coast if the ships are suspected of carrying Ben Laden or other al-Qaida leaders, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said Wednesday in Washington.
Gen. Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the Navy so far has not stopped and boarded any ships off of Pakistan. He said there was no specific information indicating that terrorist leaders will try to flee by sea.
The Navy has a large fleet in the northern Arabian Sea able to interdict shipping, but the long, sparsely populated Pakistani coast is ideal for smugglers, with many places where small boats can pick up passengers. The only major port is Karachi, also home to several hardline Islamic parties that support the Taliban and bin Laden, and the towns of Omara and Pasni have harbors that could take small boats - but otherwise there are few natural harbors.
U.S. forces have destroyed two or three enemy aircraft in recent weeks, but officials do not know if they were carrying Taliban or al-Qaida leaders trying to flee Afghanistan, Pace said at the Pentagon.
As many as 1,500 Marines specially trained for complex missions such as counterterrorism probably will be sent to Afghanistan soon, perhaps this week, a senior U.S. official said, though no final decision has been made on their use. The Marines could provide security for other U.S. forces or help Army and Air Force special operations troops expand the search for bin Laden.