Washington, December 06: US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says Washington does not know where the al-Qaeda leader is hiding, implying that the Afghan mission has been an abortive attempt.
“Well, we don’t know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is. If we did, we’d go get him,” Gates said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.
He made the remarks more than eight years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, which Washington said to be aimed at capturing the al-Qaeda leader.
The Pentagon chief also disclosed that his country has no information about the leader of the terrorist group for years.
The administration of former US leader George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan following September 11, 2001 attacks to kill or capture bin Laden and destroy the militancy in the country.
The US says Bin laden has been behind the 9/11 attacks.
However, countless number of innocent Afghan civilians, security forces, and American soldiers have lost their lives during the long years of the conflict.
With currently 68,000 US troops deployed in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama this week announced a 30,000 troop surge to the war-torn country and set a timeline to bring forces home in 2011.
A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center on Thursday showed that a majority of the US public disapproved of Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan.
——Agencies