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Taliban's public face now in U.S. custody

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef

(CNN) -- Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who gave the Taliban a face and a voice as its spokesman, is in U.S. custody in Afghanistan one day after his deportation from Pakistan, U.S. military officials said Saturday.

Officials would not reveal the precise location of the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan.

Pakistani intelligence officials detained Zaeef, 34, on Thursday and transferred him in protective custody to Peshawar, Pakistan, a day later, the envoy's secretary said. U.S. and Pakistani officials have questioned Zaeef in recent days about the location of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Until Pakistan closed the Taliban embassy in Islamabad, Zaeef was the Afghan group's primary spokesman, giving frequent briefings for Western reporters. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were the only nations to recognize the Taliban's legitimacy prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In the United States, President Bush marked the 90-day anniversary of military action in Afghanistan, lauding the "incredible" progress made by U.S. and allied forces. The last three months, he said, sent a clear message: "Don't mess with America."

"This is clearly a case of good versus evil, and make no mistake about it, good will prevail," Bush told a town hall meeting in Ontario, California, on Saturday.

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Latest developments

• German police arrested a suspected al Qaeda member Saturday at a hotel in Moenchengladbach, in western Germany. Police did not disclose the man's identity, only saying he was in his 40s and had an Italian name.

• An al Qaeda leader accused of running terrorist training camps in Afghanistan is in U.S. custody at the American military base at Kandahar International Airport, a U.S. military official said. The Bush administration had listed Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi among al Qaeda's top 12 leaders and froze his assets this fall.

• Taliban supreme ruler Mullah Mohammed Omar remains at large, the deputy head of intelligence in Afghanistan's interim government said Saturday. Responding to reports that the reclusive Taliban leader had escaped approaching Afghan forces near Baghran, Abdullah Tawheedi said he would not comment on Omar's location until searches of that region are complete. (Full story)

• The body of a U.S. Special Forces soldier who was killed in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan arrived Saturday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. A Defense Department memo identified the soldier as Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, 31, of San Antonio, Texas. (Full story)

• In a town hall meeting Saturday in Ontario, California, President Bush paid tribute to the slain Green Beret. "We mourn for Sgt. Nathan Chapman," Bush said. "We pray with his family for God's blessings on them. ... I can assure the parents and loved ones of Nathan Chapman that he lost his life for a cause that was just and important. And that cause is the security of the American people and that cause is the cause of freedom in a civilized world." (Full story)

• Afghan authorities are questioning Rayes Abdul Wahid, a Taliban commander who gave himself up, about the location of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, an Afghan intelligence official said. Wahid is thought to have been protecting the Taliban leader, said Abdullah Tawheedi, deputy head of intelligence for Afghanistan's interim administration. The whereabouts of Omar remain a mystery, Tawheedi said Saturday. The official said that Afghan forces are focusing their search near Baghran in the southern province of Helmand.

• An 18-year-old arrested Friday on burglary charges told New Hampshire police that he sent a letter containing anthrax to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, the state Division of Motor Vehicles and two local businesses, police said. Authorities say they found white powder and several letters in the residence where Elijah P. Wallace was arrested. (Full story)

• The "powdery substance" found in a threatening letter opened Thursday in the Capitol office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has been identified as talc, the FBI said Friday.

• For the second day in a row, U.S. B-52s on Friday dropped bombs on a suspected terrorist training camp in eastern Afghanistan. U.S. officials said aerial surveillance of the site in recent days showed convoys, vehicles and people moving at the camp. They believe al Qaeda leaders are trying to regroup at the site before heading to Pakistan, although they have no evidence that Osama bin Laden is in the area. (Full story)

• British and Afghan authorities signed an agreement Friday aimed at paving the way for international security forces to help restore order to Afghanistan's capital. British Maj. Gen. John McColl and Afghanistan's interim Interior Minister Younis Qanooni first initialed the agreement Monday. It provides the framework for 4,500 to 5,000 international security personnel to be deployed in Kabul, British sources said. Already, more than 200 French and British forces are in the city. (Full story)

• The Pentagon is trying to persuade remaining al Qaeda members in Afghanistan to surrender by dropping leaflets which contain an altered image of Osama bin Laden in Western-style dress. The two-sided paper shows an image of dead Afghan soldiers, with the statement, "Usama bin Laden, the murderer and coward, has abandoned al Qaida. He has abandoned you and run away. Give yourself up and do not die needlessly, you mean nothing to him. Save your families the grief and pain of your death." (Full story)

• The estimate of the number of dead in the September 11 World Trade Center attacks has dropped to 2,895, officials said Friday. The Office of Emergency Management said 607 people are confirmed dead, while 314 people are listed as missing with no death certificates issued, and 1,974 death certificates have been issued for victims whose remains have not yet been identified.