'Afghan earth will never give him up'

LONDON, OCT. 14. ``No matter how many planes bomb our homeland. Afghan earth will never give up my father. He has vanished into the landscape. Dad has become invisible,'' Osama bin Laden's son, Abdullah said.

In the interview with the Sunday Mirror, in Islamabad, Abdullah said one of his father's most-trusted advisers came to him on September 11, and ``told me my father had gone by horse to the mountains with 300 of his commandos''. ``There, they will be completely safe. No one can find them. Their home in the caves is very secure. The adviser said that a convoy of around 60 trucks filled with computers and satellite equipment had left Kabul at the same time.'' The same night Abdullah and his family were ordered to leave the house.

They moved to a giant 14-km-long bunker on the outskirts of the Afghan city of Jalalabad, where they lived for three weeks. Then last Sunday night - shortly after the first wave of allied airstrikes - they drove for four hours to cross the Pakistan border.

The Sunday Mirror correspondent Dominic Turnbull said Abdullah granted him an exclusive interview last week, becoming the first member of Osama's family to comment on the events of September 11. The interview was arranged by a Taliban agent and finally took place at a guarded compound in Islamabad's diplomatic quarter.

Like his father, Abdullah is unbowed by last week's ferocious bombing strikes by the allied forces on Afghanistan.

``I am not worried that my father will be caught. He has outsmarted the Americans for many years. But, in my heart, I do not know when I will see him again,'' Abdullah, one of Osama's 42 children, said. His mother, Sabiha, 45, is the fifth of his five wives.

He has three siblings - his brother Abdul Malik, 6, sister Samina, 2, and an older brother who has remained in Afghanistan.

The family - Abdullah, his younger siblings and mother - fled the country hours after the bombing raids started last Sunday night and were given safe passage to Islamabad. While most Afghans have walked to the Pakistan border and begged to be allowed in, the family were whisked there in a luxury landcruiser, the report said.

The last time he saw his father was September 9, two days before the attacks in the U.S.

In the interview, Abdullah claimed that he was with his father on September 11. His father spent the day with his advisers talking about the war against Northern Alliance forces. ``There was no discussion of any attack on America. I can tell you categorically that my father had no involvement in the war on New York and Washington.''

Osama left the giant bomb-proof underground house he regularly visited in Kabul - home to three of his wives and 29 children - immediately after the attacks in the U.S.

Close to their house is the base of Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, Abdullah said. Throughout the interview, Abdullah clutched a leather-bound Koran. He said it was a gift from his father on his 18th birthday last November.

It was after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 that Osama - financed by a chunk of his family's œ 3 billion fortune - took up arms.

He financed the recruitment of Palestinians, Pakistanis and Egyptians under the Islamic banner to fight jihad or holy war.

But it was after the Gulf War - when Saudi Arabia backed he U.S.- led coalition and enraged Osama by allowing Americans to use its military bases for attacks on Saddam Hussein - that he turned his wrath against the U.S., Abdullah said.

According to Abdullah his father lives a simple and devout life. ``He sleeps for only two or three hours a day. He wakes at 3 a.m. for Tahajad prayers, which take place before the moon disappears. His only wish is for the U.S. to leave his homeland, Saudi Arabia.

``My father has a very simple lifestyle. Every day he eats only a little... He eats a portion of leavened Afghan bread, some spinach and a small amount of meat.''

Abdullah said ``my father never uses any electrical gadgets which require batteries. He told me American satellites are so powerful they can trace him even from the tiniest watch batteries.

``Sometimes my father was forced to use a mobile phone to speak to his aides. But he only spoke for a few seconds in a special code... Afterwards he always threw the phone away.''

`A good parent'

Describing Osama as a ``good parent'', Abdullah said ``he is kind, but he is strict over religious matters. He never shouts. When he is angry, he goes silent. His silence tortures his children.

``He has forbidden television and music. But here in Pakistan I have access to the Internet,'' Abdullah said pointing to the smart personal computer standing in the corner of the lounge in his temporary home. ``My father is determined to ensure all his sons receive a good education. In Kabul, teachers from Arabic countries visit us at home to teach maths, electronics, computers and engineering.''

Even from his mountain hideaway in the barren Afghan hills, Osama seems capable of granting his family privileges. The fact that Abdullah, along with others was driven in their Toyota landcruiser across the border accompanied by a ``special minder'' seven days ago was evidence of it.

The name given on the form is Muhammad, despite the fact his true identity and his father's name appear in his Afghan passport.

``I know my father will not rest while the U.S. is spilling Muslim blood. We will fight for revenge with all our hearts,'' Abdullah said.

- PTI

In God's name

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