Afghan Official: Bin Laden 'Most Likely' Alive

Jan. 2 -- Osama bin Laden "most likely" is alive and hiding with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in Afghanistan, the country's interim foreign minister said today, but the Pentagon said if there was hard evidence of where the two men were, they'd be in U.S. custody.

"I have seen those reports … As [Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld] alluded to, I think last week, the reports are all over the map, and so there is not a preponderance of reports that would allow us to pinpoint a location, because if we had that, well, we'd have him," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said.

Interim Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said the whereabouts of both men were unknown, but he echoed U.S. intelligence sources who said there are indications that bin Laden is not dead. Unlike American officials, though, Abdullah said he believes there is strong evidence that bin Laden has not left Afghanistan.

"It is most likely that he will be with Mullah Omar," Abdullah said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "And since we haven't seen the body, we could say that he is still alive. But there are also some reports from some corners of Afghanistan that he is still around in the southern part of Afghanistan."

Sources told ABCNEWS this morning that some Taliban were surrendering and turning over their weapons to forces of the new Afghan government west of Kandahar, but Abdullah said he still did not expect a quick end to the conflict with the remaining holdout supporters of the hard-line Islamic regime.

"I cannot be certain about full surrender of the Taliban, the pockets of Taliban in different parts of the country this week," Abdullah said on Good Morning America. "But I think this will happen. Either they will be captured or they will surrender. But the search for Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, I'm not optimistic that it will end this weekend or next."

He denied a report this morning that Afghan forces were negotiating the surrender of Omar with Taliban holdouts near the town of Baghran, and the Pentagon also expressed skepticism about what might come out of any negotiations that might be going on.