US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld last night dismissed a report that a US decision not to put ground troops at Tora Bora last year allowed Osama bin Laden escape.
Mr Rumsfeld bridled when asked whether Afghan war commander Gen Tommy Franks had made a major mistake in his approach to the Tora Bora campaign, as alleged by unnamed US government sources in a Washington Poststory.
"My view of the whole thing is that until the lessons learned are known and have been developed. . . . I wouldn't be able to answer a question like that, and it impresses me that others can from their pinnacles of relatively modest knowledge," Mr Rumsfeld said.
Mr Rumsfeld said he never has had any conclusive evidence on the location of bin Laden, whom the United States holds responsible for fatal September 11th attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.
"We have seen repeated speculation about his possible location," Rumsfeld said. "But it has obviously not been verifiable. Had it been verifiable, one would have thought that someone might have done something about it".
Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended Gen Franks's performance, saying he had done a "fine job".