[link|http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/03/wtal103.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/03/ixhome.html|We can find bin Laden in days, say guerrillas]

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If Western intelligence agencies are to be believed, locating bin Laden has proved enormously difficult. He is reported to travel each day to a new location, only revealing his itinerary at the last moment.

But Afghan commanders say such stories are exaggerated. They contend the country is awash with shepherds, nomads and spies that can locate the world's most wanted man in a matter of days.

Now the whisper from across the front line is that he may have taken refuge in a long, sweeping valley called Dara Kayan, which stretches south from Pol-e Komri. Locals say the rolling valley would afford bin Laden a high degree of protection and keep him away from inquisitive locals.

Former residents say the area has been cleared of its population and attempts made by the Taliban authorities to seal it. A refugee forced out of Dara Kayan said: "It is an open secret bin Laden went there in 1998 after America launched cruise missiles against al-Qa'eda bases near Kandahar."

Commander Momar Hasan of the opposition Northern Alliance, who controls the Dushti Qala front near the border with Tajikistan, said bin Laden had also used the valley as a refuge several times since. He said: "We know from the reports of our people that bin Laden was there much of last year.

"If the Americans want to know where he is they should come to us. We have spies, we have people who could find out. It is really not so difficult." But if the West can locate bin Laden, seizing him may prove harder.