[R-G] US offers US$200,000 in new 'Most Wanted' campaign; teen hanged for having dollars

[Anthony Fenton]

Copyright 2007 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
Associated Press Worldstream

October 2, 2007 Tuesday 12:36 AM GMT

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LENGTH: 466 words

HEADLINE: US offers US$200,000 in new 'Most Wanted' campaign; teen  
hanged for having dollars

BYLINE: By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: BAGRAM Afghanistan

BODY:


A new U.S. "Most Wanted" campaign is offering up to US$200,000  
(euro140,500) for information on a dozen elusive Taliban and al-Qaida  
leaders who are believed to be fueling a surge in bombings and  
suicide attacks.

Police in the south said militants hanged a teenager for having U.S.  
currency in his pocket, then stuffed five US$1 bills into his mouth,  
apparently as a warning to others about having American money.

To help track down 12 insurgent commanders, 300,000 posters and  
20,000 billboards will go up around eastern Afghanistan with their  
names and pictures. Rewards ranging from US$20,000 to US$200,000  
(euro14,050 to euro140,500) will be offered for information leading  
to their capture.

"We're trying to get more visibility on these guys like the FBI did  
with the mob (Mafia)," U.S. Lt. Col. Rob Pollock said at the main  
American base in Bagram. "They operate the same way the mob did. They  
stay in hiding."

The list does not include internationally known names who already  
have large price tags on their heads, like al-Qaida chief Osama bin  
Laden who has evaded U.S. capture since 2001 despite a US$25 million  
(euro17.6 million) bounty or Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who is worth  
a US$10 million (euro7.03 million) reward.

Instead, the new list is filled with local insurgent cell leaders  
blamed for roadside and suicide bomb attacks.

In Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province and the world's No. 1  
opium poppy-growing region, militants hanged the 15-year-old with  
U.S. money stuffed in his mouth from a tree in a village.

"The Taliban warned villagers that they would face the same  
punishment if they were caught with dollars," said Wali Mohammad, the  
police chief in the district of Sangin.

Dollars are commonly used in Afghanistan alongside the afghani, the  
local currency.

The Most Wanted campaign is reminiscent of efforts in Iraq to capture  
high-value insurgents. The U.S. military in April 2003 passed out  
decks of playing cards with 55 insurgents' names and pictures. In  
July 2006, the Iraqi government publicized its own list of 41 wanted  
persons, including Saddam Hussein's wife and eldest daughter.

The Afghanistan program, which took effect in the past few days,  
comes despite peace overtures from President Hamid Karzai, who said  
Saturday he was willing to meet with Taliban leader Mullah Omar if it  
would help bring peace.

The U.S. says it has killed around 50 mostly midlevel insurgent  
leaders over the past year.

Pollock said the U.S. is offering up to US$10,000 (euro7,000) to  
Afghans who turn in any foreign fighter, such as militants from Arab  
countries or Chechnya, Turkey, or Uzbekistan.

The U.S. has also been paying money to Afghans who tell authorities  
about roadside bombs that have been planted.

Associated Press reporter Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this  
report.