US offers US$200,000 rewards for wanted Afghan guerillas

FE Team | Published: October 02, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BAGRAM, Afghanistan, OCT 1 (AP): The US military has launched a new "Most Wanted" campaign offering rewards of up to US$200,000 for information leading to the capture of a dozen Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.
Posters and billboards are being put up around eastern Afghanistan with the names and pictures of the 12, with reward amounts ranging from US$20,000 to US$200,000.
"We're trying to get more visibility on these guys like the FBI did with the mob," said Lt. Col. Rob Pollack, a US officer at the main American base in Bagram. "They operate the same way the mob did, they stay in hiding."
The list does not include internationally known names who already have large price tags on their heads like al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden - who has evaded US capture since 2001 despite a $25 million bounty - or Taliban leader Mullah Omar with a US$10 million reward. Instead, the list is filled with local insurgent cell leaders responsible for roadside and suicide bomb attacks.
The programme, in the works for weeks, comes despite peace overtures from President Hamid Karzai, who said he would be willing to meet with Omar if it would help bring peace.
The posters and billboards will be put up by Afghan soldiers and police in areas where the military suspects the men are operating, Belcher said. Some on the list are also suspected of operating in Pakistan's tribal regions, where the US military does not have the authority to operate.
Among the 12 most-wanted men, the US is offering the US$200,000 reward for five, including:
Abu Laith al-Libi: An al-Qaida training camp leader who has appeared in many Internet videos and who the US says was likely behind the February bombing at the US base at Bagram during a visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney.
Saraj Haqqani: Son of longtime warlord Jalalludin Haqqani and believed to have connections with al-Qaida.
Tahir Yuldash: The leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and an al-Qaida operational commander.
Pollack said the US is offering up to US$10,000 to Afghans who turn in any foreign fighter, such as militants from Arab countries or Chechnya, Turkey, or Uzbekistan. The US has also been paying money to Afghans who tell authorities about roadside bombs that have been planted.