WASHINGTON - The United States needs to focus on severing terror mastermind Osama bin laden's links with his Al-Qaeda network, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.
"The point here is that as much as we continue to focus on the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the territory in which he can operate, the ability to communicate with his field generals, with his organization, has been severely diminished," she said.
"And I think we need to focus on that," Rice said in an interview with US broadcasting network ABC during her Asian tour.
Bin laden's al-Qaeda network was behind the deadly terror attack on the United States on September 11, 2000 that left nearly 3,000 people dead.
He is believed to be hiding along the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Asked whether she would order the doubling of a reward for bin Laden's capture from the current 25 million dollars, Rice said: "We're certainly considering -- whether it would be an effective thing to do -- but I think the point to remember is that we have no shortage of assets looking for him.
"We have no shortage of contacts with people who know that we are looking for him, so of course we will consider the question of the reward, but how we structure the search for him is probably equally important."
The US Congress had authorized Ruce to if possible double the reward for bin Laden in the framework of a law increasing funds available to the US State Department to fight terrorism.
Rice said that stepped up efforts by Pakistan and Afghanistan to flush out terrorists had dampened bin Laden's operations.
"Eventually, I'm quite certain that we will get Osama bin Laden, but my own view is that until we do, there is really no point in talking about whether we have or have not come close to getting him," she said.
03/18/2005 00:17 GMT