Key Cole suspects fled to Afghanistan, officials say

From National Security Correspondent David Ensor

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. and Yemeni officials said Friday key suspects in the bombing of the USS Cole have fled to safety in Afghanistan.

A senior Yemeni official also told CNN that the man investigators believe organized the October 12 attack in the port of Aden -- a Saudi citizen of Yemeni origin named Mohammed Omar Al-Harazi -- is also in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials said it is "logical" that Al-Harazi would be in Afghanistan, but said they could not confirm his whereabouts.

INTERACTIVE Timeline: The attack on the USS Cole     MESSAGE BOARD USS Cole attack

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government also shelters accused terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. U.S. investigators have said they suspect bin Laden's Al Qaeda group was behind the bombing that killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded 39.

In House testimony Wednesday, State Department counter- terrorism chief Michael Sheehan said, "While we do not have full information on who planned and carried out the attack on the USS Cole, we do know that numerous people immediately left Yemen for Afghanistan."

At the White House Friday, Counter- terrorism Coordinator Richard Clarke said the Taliban government can expect only international isolation.

"There are governments like (that of) Afghanistan which are engaged in the smuggling of heroin and the harboring of terrorists. And governments such as Afghanistan, I think, have to be considered criminal organizations, because they are engaged in criminal activity," he said.

Next week at the United Nations, the United States and Russia jointly will push through a Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo and other restrictions on the Taliban.

Administration officials said they believe the incoming Bush Administration will also support tightening the screws on the Taliban until it gives up Bin Laden.

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