Kabul (Afghanistan): The US Deputy Secretary of State said his country is still uncertain where 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden is hiding, as American soldiers silently marked the moment six years earlier when the first hijacked jetliner hit the World Trade Center in New York City.
"I think our best assessment is that he is still alive and that he is somewhere in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area," said John Negroponte, who met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday during a visit to Afghanistan. "I would also make the point that wherever he is, he is hiding, he and his close associate Ayman al-Zawahiri (al-Qaida's No. 2).
"And that is a very different situation than the one that prevailed prior to Sept. 11, 2001, when he had completely free use and free reign of the country of Afghanistan, and that situation has been changed and that, needless to say, was a very, very important change for the better."
Karzai, speaking at a news conference, lamented the thousands of people killed on 9/11 but also said the attacks helped refocus attention on Afghanistan, which had been overrun by the Taliban and al-Qaida. He thanked the international community for helping to "return Afghanistan to the people of Afghanistan."
At a ceremony at a US base in Kabul, Maj. Gen. Robert Cone told some 100 soldiers that there is "no alternative" to victory over terrorism.
"We are here now six years later, not as a conquering force, not as an invader seeking to vanquish the Afghans, but rather to do what is right — to seek out and destroy our common enemy," Cone said. "As allies, we will train and equip the Afghans. We will help them to provide for their people because we are Americans."
At the main US base at Bagram, a moment of silence was held at 8:46 a.m. EDT — 5:16 p.m. in Afghanistan — the time the first jetliner hit the World Trade Center. A 21-gun salute and Taps played a short time later.
Negroponte took part in a remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Embassy flag pole, where some of the rubble from the 9/11 attacks is buried.
"Defeating an insurgency increasingly fueled by the narcotics trade is a painstaking process, but progress is being made and we will not abandon the people of Afghanistan to the likes of the Taliban and al-Qaida," he said. "So while we remember the events of this day six years ago with sorrow, we can measure the progress we've made here since then and look ahead with optimism to the future."
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