If this report is true then the Afghanis may be hot on the heels of Osama Bin Laden:

The Afghan authorities reportedly arrested a Pakistani who has been accused of helping the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, Osama Bin Laden take refuge in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan. This is according to Pakistani sources sited in the Arabic newspaper al-Hayat. The authorities in Islamabad have reportedly been informed of the arrests and have asked Kabul permission to send Pakistani officials to Afghanistan in order to interrogate this person. The man, identified as Sidi Akbar, is accused of not only helping the al-Qaeda leader escape but also of having hosted him in a location in Nuristan, far away from Afghan and American troops.

Now this is not the first report on this Pakistani. There was a piece on Akbar (different spelling) in the Chicago Tribune in February:

Afghan authorities announced a striking development at a news conference in December: They had arrested a Pakistani spy who confessed to smuggling Osama bin Laden into Pakistan from Afghanistan in 2005, and they had a videotape of the confession to prove it.

Yet, sitting in jail, the alleged spy, Sayed Akbar, denies it. He says he is an innocent pharmacist from a Pakistani border town who was mistakenly arrested by Afghan soldiers on his way to buy medicine for his clinic.

Akbar’s original story, tantalizing but uncorroborated, has become another sore point in the prickly relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, two U.S. allies that share a border but little else in the war on terrorism in South Asia.

Well, it seems maybe the Pakistanis are not all that upset if they are asking to interogate the man. And it seems the story is being taken seriously, if this reporting from a little over a week ago is any indication:

US troops in eastern Kunar province, long thought to be a hiding and transit point for foreign Arab militants and al Qaeda chieftains, have raided a village called Mandaghel* over the last 48 hours. Witnesses describe a devastating display of air and ground attacks leveled at the village thought to contain a ‘High Value Target’ of the al Qaeda variety. The mentioning of Osama Bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al Zawarhiri as being such targets in Mandaghel has not been denied by military officials. (Note: The only village called Mandaghel our research found was located in Kamdesh district of Nuristan just north of Kunar province.)

Are we on the heels of Bin Laden and Zawahiri? I guess we will know soon. More here at The Blotter on Nuristan. More here about Akbar and his story. Happy hunting!