Taliban founder Mullah Omar lived next to a US base in the Afghan province of Zabul for years, Dutch journalist Bette Dam claims in her new Dutch-language book "Searching for the Enemy."
"The US, and almost everyone else, had it wrong," Dam, who spent eight years researching the Taliban leader, wrote in an English-language excerpt. "After 2001, Mullah Omar never stepped foot in Pakistan, instead opting to hide in this native land — and for eight years, lived just a few miles from a major US Forward Operating Base that housed thousands of soldiers."
Dam said the finding was corroborated by Taliban and Afghan officials, including Mullah Omar's personal bodyguard. She described it as a "staggering US intelligence failure."
"Though Mullah Omar did not venture outside for fear of being caught, according to (bodyguard) Jabbar Omari, in the four years they hid in that home they felt relatively safe," added Dam.