Al-Qaida computer offers clues

Reports say that anti-Taliban forces are planning an offensive to capture Mullah Mohammed Omar.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
NEW YORK -- A computer taken from a building used by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida in Afghanistan contains letters and memos about the organization's internal operations, justifications for attacks, and efforts to obtain chemical weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
A looter said he got the desktop computer in Kabul after a U.S. bombing raid in November that killed several senior officials of Al-Qaida, the Journal said.
The Journal said that it bought the machine from the looter for $1,100, and that U.S. officials had confirmed the authenticity of the files it contained.
Run like corporation: The terrorist group functioned like a multinational corporation, with memos referring to Al-Qaida as "the company" and its leadership as "the general management," the newspaper said.
One memo referred to a "legal study" of the killing of civilians, in which the writer said he had found ways to keep "the enemy" from using the killing of "civilians, specifically women and children," to undermine the militants' cause, the Journal said.
A letter addressed to top Al-Qaida lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri said "hitting the Americans and Jews is a target of great value and has its rewards in this life and, God willing, the afterlife," the Journal said. The author of the letter said he had written to bin Laden separately.
A video file made after Sept. 11 uses television footage of people fleeing the World Trade Center, combined with a sound track of mocking chants and prayers in Arabic, the Journal said.
Chemical weapons: Text files include an outline of an Al-Qaida project to develop chemical and biological weapons, code-named al-Zabadi, Arabic for curdled milk, the newspaper said.
The memo adds that "we only became aware of them when the enemy drew our attention to them by repeatedly expressing concern that they can be produced simply."
Bin Laden: Despite the routing of his Al-Qaida terrorist network, Osama bin Laden has likely survived the U.S.-led military campaign and may have escaped into Pakistan, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee and other U.S. officials said Sunday.
"The latest intelligence we had indicates that the high probabilities are that bin Laden is still alive," Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said on CNN's "Late Edition." "Where he is, is a question mark. The trail has gone cold as to whether he's still in the caves of Tora Bora or has slipped out into Pakistan."
Latest information: An intelligence official said Sunday that recently obtained information supported the notion that bin Laden has survived the massive U.S. airstrikes and Afghan attacks on the mountainous enclave of Tora Bora, where he was believed to be along with Al-Qaida fighters who retreated there after the collapse of the Taliban regime.
"There were certainly indications last week that would imply that he's alive, but nothing definitive," said the official, who declined to discuss what the clues were. "There's certainly no indication that he's dead, and there's some circumstantial evidence that he's alive," the official added.
Another key figure: In the hunt for another key figure, Mullah Mohammed Omar, a senior defense official said Sunday that U.S. military commanders are taking seriously reports from Afghanistan that anti-Taliban forces may be planning an offensive to capture the deposed leader of the militant Islamic regime.
"If they do this, we're prepared to support them," the official said.
According to some media reports, Omar may be hiding in a mountainous region northwest of Kandahar, guarded by a force of 2,500 to 3,000 fighters. According to the reports, Afghan officials have said they are mustering a force of fighters from the region to attack the stronghold.
U.S. support for an attack would likely come in the form of airstrikes and intelligence, the official said. "You're not going to see a U.S. military offensive," the official added.
Peacekeeping force: More British troops arrived in the capital today after an agreement was signed detailing the operation of an international peacekeeping force under Afghanistan's new government, officials said.
A convoy carrying about 70 British soldiers rolled into Kabul to reinforce an initial deployment that has been patrolling the capital and providing security to an interim government sworn in on Dec. 22.
The Afghan foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, told reporters that his government had agreed to let the peacekeepers deploy, although Afghanistan insists that they have tightly limited authorization to confront gunmen, disarm anyone, or carry out other policing duties.
It remained unclear what, exactly, the peacekeepers would be allowed to do other than walk or drive around the streets.
"Very soon, we will be able to see multinational forces," Abdullah said. "An agreement has been reached on the deployment of multinational forces. We are not going to discuss details, but the agreement is finalized."
Few details were available. Afghan military commanders, however, insisted in interviews that they would not accept anything more than a symbolic multinational presence in any major Afghan city.
Elite division: The U.S. Army's elite 101st Airborne Division will replace the Marines at the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Sunday.
Officials did not say when the changeover would occur, citing security concerns. The 101st is one of the most storied units in U.S. military history, having landed behind enemy lines on D-Day in World War II and surviving the Battle of the Bulge.
It will be sent from Fort Campbell, Ky., home to Special Operations forces and some of the most highly trained soldiers in the military.
Its troops will secure the airport and Taliban and Al-Qaida detainees and also conduct unconventional warfare operations. Those include coordinating U.S. airstrikes and tracking down bin Laden's terrorist network.
More detainees: U.S. forces in Afghanistan have taken custody of 30 more suspected Taliban or Al-Qaida prisoners, a Pentagon spokeswoman said today.
The additions bring the total number of prisoners held by the United States to 180. Another prisoner is being held in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Eight others, including American John Walker, are held aboard the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan.