Osama bin Laden not hiding in Afghanistan: Minister

Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasoul Sunday denied having any knowledge of the terrorist leader's whereabouts, saying: "Regarding bin Laden, I can say he is not in Afghanistan, because if he was in Afghanistan, he would have been found".

"Where is he I don't know, but he is not in Afghanistan and I can assure you that," Rasoul was quoted as saying by Xinhua.The Afghan minister said his country was engaged in close discussions with Pakistan in order to reach a solution to combat terrorism, because Pakistan, in his view, was also a target for terrorist operations.