Bin Laden Drops Off the Radar

They seek him here, they seek him there... America's most wanted man has disappeared in Afghanistan, although he may not have gone far. After his Taliban hosts announced new curbs on his activities, super-terrorist Osama Bin Laden simply gave them the slip over the weekend. "The Taliban were worried about fresh U.S. missile strikes and had tried to curb Bin Laden," says TIME correspondent Meenakshi Ganguly. "Whether he left in protest or whether he's simply in hiding is unknown."

Despite rumors that he'd left for Iraq, Somalia or Chechnya, there's a strong suspicion that Bin Laden has simply gone to ground in Afghanistan. "The Taliban's control over the country is far from total," says TIME correspondent William Dowell. "It would be relatively easy for Bin Laden to simply go beyond their reach." But now that he's no longer behaving like a "guest" of the Taliban, he's going to have to leave -- and his travel options are looking a little limited.