The Hunt For Osama Bin Laden

Twenty thousand American soldiers and Marines are currently serving in Afghanistan - most of them engaged in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, his al Qaeda followers and Taliban allies.

As CBS News Correspondent Lara Logan reports, it appears bin Laden is isolated and eluding capture, but cut off - even from his own organization.

U.S. intelligence sources believe bin Laden is hiding in the remote
mountains of Pakistan, in one of the many tribal areas just across the border from Afghanistan.

CBS News has been told by military officials that they believe bin Laden has found refuge with a single family and has isolated himself from the outside world.

He rarely moves around, avoids modern communication systems that could expose him and uses human couriers to deliver his messages.

Officials believe bin laden is still seen as a mentor within the al Qaeda organization but now, one who puts forward ideas rather than issue orders.

U.S. intelligence sources say that being on the run for over two years has removed bin Laden from the day-to-day operations of al Qaeda. So capturing or killing him would make little difference to terrorist operations around the world.