Monday September 17 9:54 AM ET
Taliban Refuse to Hand Over Bin Laden, Report Says
Photos
Reuters Photo
Audio/Video
Taliban Threatens Countries Aiding Possible U.S. Retaliation (Reuters)
By David Fox
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Senior Pakistani officials failed Monday to persuade the Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to hand over Saudi-born terror suspect Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) to avert U.S. armed retaliation, the AIP news agency said.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutamaen saying that over three hours of talks between the sides had not resolved the key issue of turning over the multi-millionaire Islamic militant accused of involvement in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.
``The meeting looked in detail at the aspects of the problem. The talks were positive but I cannot give the details,'' Mutamaen said. ``We are 60 percent hopeful that conditions will be normal.''
But on bin Laden, who the Taliban have termed a ``guest,'' Mutamaen reported no progress: ``There was no clear discussion on this particular topic.''
The Pakistan delegation arrived early in the morning in the southern city of Kandahar and went immediately into talks with Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Maulawi Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil.
The Pakistani officials, including intelligence chief General Mahmood Ahmed, won permission from the United Nations (news - web sites) to break a ban on flights to Afghanistan (news - web sites) to try to convince the landlocked country's purist Islamic rulers of the gravity of their situation.
``The delegation is motivating and advising Mullah Omar and the Taliban leadership that they should consider the pros and cons of not cooperating with America and others on matters of terrorism...,'' Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said during a visit to Kuwait.
``Because if Afghanistan does not do the logical, balanced attitude in this regard it will be a problem for Afghanistan and its people,'' he said.
The Taliban have previously refused all demands to hand over bin Laden -- the chief suspect in Tuesday's devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington -- saying proof of his involvement in the terror is a prerequisite.
The United States has vowed to punish the perpetrators and all those who protect them.
Bin Laden Sunday again denied any involvement.
``I have taken an oath of allegiance (to Mullah Omar) which does not allow me to do such things from Afghanistan,'' he said in a statement faxed by an aide to the Afghan Islamic Press.
Pakistan is one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban government and was a key backer of the purist Islamic movement as it swept to power in the mid-1990s, taking most of the country and ending two decades of civil war.
PAKISTAN PROMISES TO COOPERATE
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has promised to cooperate fully with the United States in its fight against global terror.
Photos
Reuters Photo
``We are alive to the gravity of the situation and know that in the lives of nations such situations do arise as require the taking of important decisions,'' the official APP news agency quoted him as saying Sunday before his mission left.
The Pakistani diplomatic mission is a last-ditch appeal to the Taliban to try to avert what Washington has vowed will be retaliation by a ``mighty giant'' awakened by the world's worst terror attack.
Military sources told Reuters that the delegation included General Mahmood Ahmed, the head of the country's intelligence service that is regarded as one of the creators of the Taliban. He had been in Washington when the terror attacks took place.
The Pakistan diplomacy coincides with a call by Mullah Omar for a war council in Kabul of Islamic clerics to discuss the defense of Afghanistan in the event of U.S. attacks.
Mullah Omar has already said the Taliban would declare a jihad, or holy war, against the United States if it attacked and also against any country that gives Washington assistance.
In a sign of mounting nervousness among the purist Taliban, the movement appealed at the weekend to the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim states for help in case of an attack by the United States, a Taliban official in Kandahar told Reuters.
APPEAL FOR HELP
The decision to appeal for help from the OIC was taken at a special meeting of the Supreme Council of the Taliban convened in Kandahar late Saturday with the reclusive Omar in the chair. The OIC does not recognize the Taliban.
``We should unite against our enemies who want to crush us because we are Muslim,'' the official quoted Omar as saying.
Monday, Taliban officials began fleeing the capital Kabul amid growing expectations of U.S. attacks. They were seen heading out of the city for the countryside, but it was not clear if this was under instructions from Mullah Omar.
In off-the-record briefings Sunday, Pakistan's president said the U.S. could base its troops either in Pakistan or neighboring Afghanistan, a source told Reuters.
In addition, it was possible U.S. ships would want access to Pakistan's coast to reach landlocked Afghanistan, a request Islamabad would be able to meet, the source said.
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1998, has still not fully consolidated his grip on the country and has to juggle carefully the interests of various political and religious groups.
``The president is aware that whatever he is going to do will create some problems for Pakistan and he may see a reaction from the general public,'' said Hamid Meer, editor of Aussas (Foundation) newspaper. |
