The Disappearing Omar Reward

By DOUGLAS WALLER

Is there a reward for the capture of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar? No one seems quite sure. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced on Dec. 13 that Washington planned to offer $10 million for Omar's capture, to go along with the $25 million dangled for nabbing Osama bin Laden. But Rumsfeld didn't consult ahead of time with the State Department--which runs the rewards program and decides which evildoers warrant a price tag on their head--and a reward had not been approved. It still hasn't. "You just can't create these rewards on your own," says a State Department aide. One problem: the rewards are usually offered for terrorists under U.S. indictment, and Omar hasn't yet been charged with a crime. The State Department could still come through with the reward, and a senior Administration aide insists that if someone turns in the Taliban chief, "we could probably pay some money." But do bounty hunters take IOUs?

--By Douglas Waller