KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai says terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is still in the region, but vowed his government would apprehend him, CNN said Monday.
"In terms of the specifics of the Afghan nation and the coalition against terrorism, we are much closer," he told the network from Kabul. "In terms of getting him physically, let's count on our luck and good pursuit."
In an interview, he acknowledged national embarrassment over the 64 percent increase in cultivation of opium-producing poppies since the Taliban were forced from government.
The CIA-backed anti-Soviet mujahedeen used opium sales to raise money for purchasing arms. After the Taliban banned poppy cultivation in July 2000, poppy production continued in areas held by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance.
Karzai pledged his government would "fight the poppy" by destroying the poppy fields and planting "alternative crops."
Afghanistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in the spring, and Karzai said he looks forward "to a complete democratic system in the country to emerge in another hopefully five to six months."
