Special Forces Role Changes As Pentagon Redirects Hunt for Bin Laden

Posted 2:24 p.m. Jan 9, 2002 — Updated 2:24 p.m. Jan 9, 2002

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — After nearly four months, there is still no sign of Osama bin Laden. Now, the Pentagon says it will change its tactics.

Leaders say U.S. forces in Afghanistan will focus more on finding all remaining Taliban and al-Qaida members and less on the hunt for bin Laden.

WRAL Military Expert General Robert Springer said that there are many ways to interpret the statements.

"It might just be they don't know. They have no intelligence information, they don't know where he is and it could be embarrassing each day to say 'We don't know where he is.' It might also be that they have a sense of where he is and they don't want to tip him off," Springer said.

Springer said that it is important that U.S. forces capture other Taliban and al-Qaida members in the hopes of gathering intelligence information.

Suggest A Correction