Where is Osama Bin Laden? 

The United States does not know where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is hiding and has not had any good intelligence on his whereabouts in years, according to Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

Speaking in an interview on ABC's This Week programme, Gates also said he could not confirm recent reports that a detainee might have seen bin Laden in Afghanistan earlier this year.

"We don't know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is. If we did, we'd go and get him."

Asked when was the last time the United States had any good intelligence on his whereabouts, Gates said, "I think it's been years."

The BBC reported last week that a detainee in Pakistan claimed to have information that bin Laden was in Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan in January or February.

In November, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report that blamed the lack of concerted efforts by former President George Bush's administration and US military commanders for allowing bin Laden to escape from the Tora Bora caves of Afghanistan in late 2001.

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