WASHINGTON8212;Terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network are on the run in Afghanistan, and their Taliban supporters are in disarray, but the American-led military campaign to crush them is far from over, senior administration officials said Sunday.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, in separate talk- show interviews, both said they have no reason to believe bin Laden has escaped Afghanistan.
“I have seen no intelligence or information to suggest” he has left, Powell said on “This Week.”
The Taliban’s envoy to Pakistan said Saturday that bin Laden had left Afghanistan, but that has not been substantiated. Later, the diplomat said he meant only that bin Laden was outside areas under Taliban control.
Powell, Wolfowitz and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice all suggested bin Laden’s room to maneuver is shrinking.