ISLAMABAD -- Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said Monday that while there was no evidence of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, he believed he was outside Afghanistan.

"We tried very hard to find him in Afghanistan...

there is a likelihood that it Bin Laden's location) could be outside our borders," Abdullah told AFP after a meeting here with his Pakistani counterpart Inamul Haq. "certainly it is not based on proved facts, because otherwise it would have been a different situation."

he was speaking after pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman aziz ahmed khan scoffed in response to a question about abdullah's reported surmisings that bin laden was hiding in pakistan's semi-autonmous border tribal areas.

"he (abdullah) should collect the 25 million dollars that are offered as a prize. if i knew i would. these are just claims, everyone keeps making all sorts of claims," khan told a routine weekly press briefing.

abdullah said that he had earlier stated that bin laden and his followers "are outside our borders, perhaps in pakistan".

but on monday he was more general, saying the man blamed for the september 11 terror attacks on the united states was "hiding somewhere in this region".

"it is of course a threat to every country, every state, every state as a leader of a terrorist organisation," he said.

abdullah, a key powerbroker of the anti-taliban northern alliance, was on only his second visit to pakistan, former backers of the taliban.

pakistan is still viewed with suspicion by elements of the northern alliance, which dominates the kabul administration.