Bin Laden Alive, Not in Cave

Are we finally closing in on Bin Laden? The al Qaeda leader, and the group's No. 2, Ayman al Zawahiri, are hiding near each other in houses in northwestern Pakistan—not in caves, as it is commonly believed, according to a NATO official. With protection from locals and some in Pakistani intel, the top terror leaders are living in relative comfort. Bin Laden is likely hiding out somewhere between the Chitral area, near Pakistan’s border with China, and the Kurram Valley, next door to Afghanistan’s Tora Bora, where many believe bin Laden evaded American forces in the early days of the Afghanistan war. That scrap of land is hundreds of square miles of rocky, barren terrain where Pakistan’s tribes make their homes. The NATO official painted a grim portrait of the war’s chances of success, pointing to the hundreds of thousands of “disaffected” young men in that part of Pakistan.