Afghan Leader Plays Down Bin Laden Hunt

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Afghan Leader Plays Down Bin Laden Hunt
Afghanistan Foreign Minister Says Talk of Stepped-Up Hunt for Bin Laden Has Been Exaggerated

The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan March 5 — Afghanistan's foreign minister sought Friday to play down reports of a heightened campaign to capture Osama bin Laden and said there had been no intelligence breakthroughs about the al-Qaida leader's location.

The United States has pledged a retooled and intensified offensive in the next few months to track top Taliban and al-Qaida figures along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. military in Afghanistan has said it is confident that bin Laden will be found this year.

Foreign Minister Abdullah took a more cautious tone.

"The missions now I wouldn't say it is as very special as is mentioned in some corners," he said after a ceremony with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw inaugurating a higher-security British Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The hunt "has been part of the efforts for the past two years, and it will continue," said Abdullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name

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