KABUL, Oct 13 (AFP) - Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is assumed to be alive but his whereabouts are unknown, the commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan said Wednesday.
"We have no evidence to suggest that Osama Bin Laden is dead so we have to assume based on that he still is alive," Lt. General David Barno told a news conference in Kabul days after the country's landmark presidential elections.
"And we don't know where he is so we can't speculate that he may be in Afghanistan or Pakistan or where he could be because we don't have any pinpoint information about his whereabouts or he would be in our custody."
Bin Laden's presence in Afghanistan was the reason for the US-led invasion after the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, but he escaped the onslaught that toppled the hardline Taliban regime which had protected him.
Barno said, however, he believed the election on Saturday was a "resounding defeat" for terrorism.
"The overwhelming success of this election is a strategic defeat for Al-Qeada and the Taliban and is a turning point for Afghanistan and the Afghan people."
Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and militants of the Taliban regime ousted by the US-led invasion in 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks had vowed to disrupt the poll.