Where the bin Laden trail goes cold

Despite such circumstances, however, a recent visit to the region found residents and officials dismissive of the claim that bin Laden was hiding in Kumrat and far more concerned with promoting the area's natural beauty for tourists.

"I don't think people would put themselves at risk for the sake of Osama bin Laden. I haven't heard anything to date about Osama bin Laden – neither from intelligence agencies or the people," says Mohammed Nisar Wardag, the mayor of Dir.

Entering the main village of Kumrat, which is split by a simple dirt road, has the air of puncturing a bubble: a quiet, self-contained world busy at bettering itself.

Men saw great slabs of wood for construction, and women work the lush fields, their bodies and faces completely covered in billowing shrouds, which locals say they wear even indoors.

Troops of young girls, meanwhile, wash their faces in the river on the way back from the madrassah, evidently the only school in town. Because all this takes place just beside the road, outsiders are noticed immediately, and greeted with respect but an air of suspicion.

Abdul Rasheed, a local resident, says the bin Laden rumors are just propaganda. "We know these mountains, these people. No outsider can hide here. We welcome tourists, but not Osama."

Many others share the opinion that Kumrat would never welcome the outside attention that bin Laden would bring, even though it is a pocket of strict religiosity.

The region has a reputation for its hearty dislike of the outside world – aside from tourists. Locals detest the presence of the government, complaining that it extracts the area's forest wealth without compensation.

They are also against international nongovernmental organizations because they are believed to be non-Muslim and their representatives are prone to dressing immodestly. Residents would therefore not risk sheltering bin Laden, observers add, since it would invite further government interference, or, at worst, direct intervention by the US military.

The police official even advised that Americans not enter the area, since opposition to the war in Afghanistan runs high. The official said that, while there were no legal injunctions against visiting, he would stop Americans who attempted to do so, as he had done in the recent past.

Such measures were for their own safety, the official insisted, and not because the presence of bin Laden was a reality.

"This is just a rumor," he said, referring to bin Laden. "[People in Kumrat] are such rigid people. If [bin Laden] was there he would be cut to pieces. Because of the temperament of the people there, they cannot keep something like that secret."

Page: 1 | 2