From the NY Times via International Herald Tribune:
Mystery Americans on the trail of bin Laden?
By Carlotta Gall The New York Times
MONDAY, MAY 15, 2006
CHITRAL, Pakistan This quiet mountain resort, better known for its polo games and mountain treks, has become the latest site of interest in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, much to the outrage and bemusement of its inhabitants.
Chitral is the remotest northwestern territory in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, stretching along the Afghan border to the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs, following the Wakhan Corridor, the long finger of Afghanistan that reaches to the Chinese border.
The territory is home to rare falcons and the snow leopard and is cut off by snow from the rest of the country for six months of the year.
It is here, in the largest town, also called Chitral, that four Americans from the U.S. Embassy rented a house last autumn, apparently preparing for a long stay, according to Siraj ul-Mulk, a member of the traditional ruling family here and the owner of the Hindu Kush Heights Hotel overlooking the valley where the four stayed.
But the house remained unoccupied until two weeks ago, when an American arrived with two carloads of furniture and equipment, provoking a local politician to object in Parliament and lead a street protest against the presence of what he termed an American "secret agency."
The American left three days before the demonstration took place, police officials said.
While there is no indication that more than one American came to the house this spring, the member of Parliament, Abdul Akbar Chitrali, insists that there were four and that they were up to no good.
"They were from an American secret agency - the FBI or CIA," he said. They were seen driving toward Chitral in an official consulate vehicle, he said, but switched to unmarked sport utility vehicles in a town called Dir, about 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, south of Chitral.
Officials at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar declined to comment on the matter.
The registry of the Pamir Riverside Hotel shows that one American, Paul Aurdic, from the consulate in Peshawar, stayed for three nights starting on April 27, along with a Pakistani colleague, Muhammad Iqbal.
Caretakers at the house the Americans rented said the Americans had never stayed there but seemed to be preparing it for occupation. On Saturday, their belongings - fitness machines, furniture and a television satellite dish - could be seen stacked on the terrace, and a pickup truck was parked in the yard.
Maulana Chitrali, a member of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat i Islami, said the Americans were looking for bin Laden.
"They came on the basis of a very fabricated report that some Arabs came down from the mountains in a Jeep and visited the bazaar," he said, "and on that basis they established an office of the FBI because bin Laden might be hiding in that area."
He made clear that he has nothing against Americans, just these Americans. "They have no place coming to Chitral, nor would we allow them to stay there," he said. "We are not against foreigners, but the presence of such elements will destroy the peaceful atmosphere of Chitral Valley." The local deputy police superintendent, Fazal Elahi, said the American told them that he was just preparing a vacation house for himself.
After the fuss, two police guards were posted outside the American's hotel room at night for his protection, and a police vehicle escorted him wherever he went, including on his trip back out of the valley, Maulana Chitrali said. "Chitral is a very peaceful area, but if such activities start, members of the Taliban could come in to attack the Americans and then we would have bomb blasts and such problems," he said.
Chitral is indeed peaceful and has avoided the radicalism and armed militancy so rampant in Pakistan's tribal areas further south. The area was a staging point and weapons route in the 1980s for mujahedeen who were fighting the Soviet occupation, but since then has slipped back into its previous tranquillity.
Yet, according to one Western diplomat in Pakistan, there have been "recurring rumors" that Al Qaeda and foreign fighters have been seen in the Chitral region in the past year, which would justify a "possible step into the region." In a recent interview, an Afghan intelligence official also mentioned the area as a possible hiding place for bin Laden, because well-known areas of the tribal regions, such as Waziristan and Bajaur, have come under intense scrutiny and attack by Pakistani forces and even American missiles.
A Pakistani official, who worked as a deputy political agent in Waziristan last year, recently described an intelligence report from that time of a movement of a large entourage that was protecting an "important leader." The group, which had three rings of security around the leader and bore markings on their clothes so they could identify one another, were dressed as nomads and shepherds and moved from an area near Parachinar, south of Peshawar, northward toward Chitral, the official said. Both officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to talk to the press.
Chitral officials deny that any outsiders could take up residence in the area without it being widely known.
"They are not present here," said Elahi, the police official.
Maulana Chitrali denied that he forced out the Americans in order to protect someone hiding in the area. "I think Osama is dead and the Americans are keeping him alive for their own reasons," he said.
Yet others thought the American presence, and even the bin Laden tale, might be good for tourism, which is the mainstay of the local economy but declined sharply after 2001.
"We want more tourists here," said Maqsood ul-Haq, 35, who sells jewelry and antique guns in the bazaar.
"The taxi drivers make money, even the cold drinks guys make more money."
Wrap...
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