Elite American commandos and agents from the CIA and FBI are increasingly embarking on dare-devil, do-or-die missions in Pakistan's no-man tribal territories -- sneaking into Afghanistan in their bid to track down Osama bin Laden.

At least three U.S. commandos who were on one such top-secret mission are now missing inside Afghanistan, and the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Pakistan was desperately trying to ascertain their fate, though officially denying any tragedy involving U.S. nationals.

Two high-ranking U.S. diplomats, principal officer Brad Hanson and his assistant, who work for the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, visited the areas close to the tribal lands and met high local officials to seek their support in tracing the missing commandos. The U.S. Embassy in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad, however, played down the visit as a "routine call" prior to Hanson's retirement.

The go-ahead to the U.S. commandos appears to have been given after the meeting of President Clinton with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif pledged all cooperation in this direction to ease off the U.S. sanctions that followed Pakistan's nuclear blasts last May. The tribal terrain where the U.S. commandos and spies have been carrying out their secret mission is the Northwest Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan. These are basically lands where the law of the Pakistan government exists only on paper, and social conduct is governed by age-old tribal-cum-Islamic practices.

In these areas, anyone who does not sport a beard is deemed an infidel deserving death. Officially all foreigners are barred from these tribal territories for their own security. However, U.S. and Western sleuths and commandos in pursuit of bin Laden have been given a free rein. Pakistan was obliged to look the other way after the U.S. administration bluntly told Islamabad that it might be declared a pariah terrorist state if it supported groups loyal to bin Laden. This was made clear by Sandy Berger, Clinton's chief national security adviser, in his talks with Pakistani leaders.

Pakistan is one of a handful of governments which recognize the medieval Taleban government in Afghanistan. In fact, the backbone of the Taleban, which means students, is comprised of pupils of religious seminaries in Pakistan. In the latest incident of its kind, three U.S. commandos are reportedly missing for over a month now after they had gone into the tribal territories named the South Waziristan agency. It was not known whether local Islamic militants, who turned avowedly anti-American since the Persian Gulf War, captured them.

Another hypothesis is that the three commandos might have either been handed over to the forces loyal to bin Laden or his loyalists inside Afghanistan. What might be worrying the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad was that it could not be ascertained whether the three commandos were still alive or dead.

The Persian Gulf War coincided with the stopping of U.S. aid for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, turning Islamic militants like Osama bin Laden from friends of the U.S. into foes overnight. The fueling of the war effort in Afghanistan was the second largest CIA covert operation after the Vietnam War.

Though 90 percent of Afghanistan territory is in Taleban control, the government forces are under constant challenge of other Islamic guerrilla forces, some of which draw inspiration and support from Iran. As such, what is most puzzling for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is which group is holding its three men.

Pakistani analysts of the Afghan imbroglio are nonplussed as to why the U.S. administration might be sending its men for such misadventures when other less-risky options may be available.

One such option is to raise the head money for bin Laden's capture -- the State Department is offering $5 million for bin Laden's head. However, bin Laden, whose financial worth is over $300 million, is believed to be pumping more than that amount each year into money-starved Afghanistan. In spite of this, the Taleban, in talks with U.S. officials in the past, indicated that they would hand over bin Laden to the U.S. in exchange for U.S. and Western recognition for their regime. The U.S. fears that any such trade-off would make it a source of ridicule in the free world, because of the Taleban's poor rights record.

Analysts say the only other bet, rather than risking the lives of its nationals, was if the local Afghan war fiefs who are loyal to none but have considerable fire power in their command were enticed to capture the most wanted man.

Earlier in March, two Americans were arrested by mistake in the same Southern Waziristan agency for indulging in suspicious activities. The two were among four westerners arrested, but a U.S. spokesperson said they were tourists who had strayed into the tribal lands.

Press reports said that those two Americans were suspected to be working for either the CIA or FBI. In that case, the administration suspended five officials for allowing the Americans to cross all the hurdles and reach so close to the Afghan border.

At the time of their arrest, the two Americans and their other two colleagues, a Briton and a Dutch woman, were preparing to sneak into Afghanistan with the intention of collecting intelligence on bin Laden. After the U.S. Embassy intervened the four "tourists" were let off and hastily left Pakistan, ranked among the top 10 most dangerous destinations for westerners.

Saudi multimillionaire Osama bin Laden, who is the regarded as the main financier of Islamic militants worldwide, had earlier declared an open war against U.S. targets, including unarmed civilians. He has been more restrained in hurling threats for the past several months now after the Taleban warned him to stay quiet or face expulsion.