Osama bin Laden Hiding Report (UPDATED)

Anyone who follows the news will likely attest to the fact that Osama bin Laden has been speculatively confirmed to be hiding in several places at once. Got that? Okay, here's the latest hiding report.

From The Australian:

AL-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his close allies might be hiding in southern Afghanistan, which has seen a sharp rise in militant violence in recent weeks, a Pakistani minister said in remarks published today.

The whereabouts of bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks, and top militants such as his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, are not known but they are suspected of hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border.

[ ... ]

Afghan and US officials there also say bin Laden is not in Afghanistan, suggesting he must be in Pakistan. Pakistani officials insist he is not in their country.

Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao again ruled out the possibility that bin Laden was in Pakistan and said the fugitive leader and his allies might be hiding in Afghanistan's restive south.

Well, obviously, nobody has solid evidence but there's some logic to pointing at southern Afghanistan. Historically, it's been a stronghold for the Taliban and various warlords and it's never been under firm government control.

Interestingly, the official Pakistani position is that bin Laden isn't in Pakistan and the official Afghan position is that he isn't in Afghanistan. You'd imagine that if bin Laden were as unpopular as official government pronouncements make him out to be, he would have been found by now.

[Update 0930 EDT] A justifiably skeptical Chad Evans has a report at In The Bullpen that bin Laden is now in Kashmir, which probably means Pakistan but could mean India. Obviously, bin Laden is some sort of apparition, a six-foot, eight-inch tall apparition carrying a dialysis machine.