Chasing the Million-Dollar Prize

The airwaves in Afghan cities echo with the names of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden, Taleban chief Mullah Omar and 14 other hunted men. It’s part of an advertising blitz offering hard cash for their capture.

The United States-sponsored media campaign began in some of Afghanistan's major cities last month, and was extended further during August. It includes advertisements on radio and television, as well as “wanted” posters in both Pashto and Dari.

Matchbooks are also being distributed carrying pictures of the wanted men and giving details of the US Rewards for Justice programme.

There's a lot of bounty money at stake - up to 125 million US dollars if all 16 men end up in American hands.

And although neither US officials nor the advertisements spell it out, it appears that the condition the fugitives are handed over in doesn’t really matter.

On September 17, 2001, US president George Bush himself referred to the rewards that used to be offered in the Wild West, “There's an old poster out West… that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive'."

There are currently photos of dead "terrorists" featured on the official US website (www.rewardsforjustice.net), with the caption "reward paid" beneath their pictures.

In mid-August, the TV spots began appearing in the heartland of the Taleban – Kandahar – where US and Afghan troops are still battling fighters of Mullah Omar's regime ousted in 2001.

There have long been rewards on the heads of these men whom the US labels as terrorists, so the impact of the advertising is difficult to gauge.

The three-month campaign now being run by the US embassy in Kabul follows a similar effort launched in January in neighbouring Pakistan, which is believed to be sheltering Taleban and al-Qaeda leaders.

“The US embassy based in Pakistan received 242 tips ... from January to June and all those tips have been saved secretly,” said Lou Fintor, a US embassy spokesman in Kabul. He did not say whether they had led to any suspects being killed or captured.

Since the latest round of advertisements began in Afghanistan, the embassy said it had received several tips, although it refused to give any figures.

Bin Laden and his alleged deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are the most valuable prizes, each with a 25 million dollar bounty on his turbaned head. Then comes Mullah Omar at 10 million, with the other 13 fetching five million dollars each.

Afghans say Mullah Omar is worth less than Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri because America sees him as less dangerous to its own security.

“I think the reason for this cheaper reward for Mullah Omar is because he is not as big a threat for the Americans as Osama and his allies,” said Mahmood Khan, a 50-year-old resident in Herat province.

The five-million-dollar men, such as Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 52, who was born in Egypt, and Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, 47, born in Syria, are foreigners like Bin Laden, but they also have direct links with Afghanistan, according to Washington.

Umar is alleged to be an explosive and poisons expert who operated a "terrorist" training camp at Derunta in Afghanistan, while Nasar is described as a trainer in poisons and chemicals who worked at the Derunta and al-Ghuraba training camps.

“We announce to people that [all] these men are enemies not only of Afghanistan, but also of the world, and we want help from the people in arresting these men. People should rely on us that the received information from them will be kept confidential,” the embassy said.

But the advertising campaign is not enough to convince some conspiracy theorists who believe that the US has been in league with the fugitives all along as part of an elaborate conspiracy to invade Afghanistan.

Sayed Wali, 45, a resident of Kandahar province, told IWPR he believed that Mullah Omar and Bin Laden were now with the US president in the White House.

“Osama and his allies are already with President Bush and the Americans are just deceiving people by doing all this [launching campaigns]," he said, but without spelling out why he and others like him believe this theory.

He added that if he did know where Mullah Omar was hiding, he would tell the Americans in return for just one million dollars.

No amount of money will entice Mohammad Salim, another resident of Kandahar province, to tip off the Americans.

He too sees a conspiracy and says he is afraid the Americans will arrest anyone giving information about Mullah Omar because this would expose the plot.

“I don't doubt that these three men [Bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar] are with Bush in Washington," he said.

Mujiburrahman, a 25-year-old Kabul resident, says he would betray Mullah Omar to the Americans for just 100,000 dollars.

"Ten million dollars is a huge amount of money. If I had information about Mullah Omar and his allies, I would give it for 100,000 dollars because on the one hand I would get rich, and on the other hand I would save the Afghan people from this evil," he said.

Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.