Bin Laden missing, Taliban says
Globe and Mail Update, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) with Reuters, AP
Faced with U.S. demands to hand over
Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan's Taliban
leadership claimed Sunday it has been unable to find the alleged terrorist
mastermind and advise him of a recommendation to leave the country.
American officials dismissed the claim, which came as a U.S. Defence
Department team arrived in Pakistan to discuss military co-operation for a
strike against bin Laden and his Taliban allies.
The Taliban's ambassador to neighbouring Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef,
said the militia's chief, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had sent emissaries to
inform bin Laden of a decision Thursday by Afghanistan's Muslim clergy that
he should leave the country voluntarily at a time of his choosing.
Mr. Zaeef said Taliban authorities had been searching for bin Laden for the
past two days "but he has not been traced."
In Washington, top U.S. officials suggested the claim was a crude attempt to
evade responsibility for complying with U.S. demands.
"We're not going to be deterred by comments that he may be missing," said
Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser to U.S. President George W.
Bush.
"We don't simply believe it," she told Fox News Sunday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also rejected Taliban assertions.
Asked if he believed the contention, Mr. Rumsfeld told the CBS: "Of course
not. They know where he is."
"It is just not believable that the Taliban do not know where the network can
be located and found and either turned over or expelled," he said.
And the United States said Sunday that it would release evidence linking
Mr. bin Laden to the attacks, Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
"We are hard at work bringing all the information together — intelligence
information, law enforcement information," he told the NBC program Meet
the Press.
"I think in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document,
that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this
attack," he added.
The Taliban must either hand over bin Laden and his lieutenants, allow
access to their alleged terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and free two
detained American aid workers, or "face the wrath of an international
coalition," Ms. Rice said.
Mr. bin Laden is the prime suspect in masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which left thousands of people
dead or missing.
In reporting the Taliban's claim, the Afghan Islamic Press, a private news
agency based in Islamabad, quoted Mr. Omar's spokesman Abdul Hayee
as saying "guest Osama" had "gone missing" and that "efforts were being
made to locate him."
Mr. Hayee said that once Mr. bin Laden was found, he would be told of the
clerical decision. "Then it would be his decision whether he wants to stay in
Afghanistan or not."
Meanwhile, the United States accelerated preparations for military action
against bin Laden and the Taliban, which has given him refuge since 1996.
A high-level U.S. Defence Department team led by air force
Brigadier-General Kevin Chilton, Pentagon director of strategic planning for
the Near East and South Asia, arrived Sunday in Islamabad, U.S. and
Pakistani sources said.
The team is expected to finalize plans for the United States to use Pakistani
airspace, intelligence-sharing and military facilities in support for action
against Afghanistan.
Despite some anti-American sentiment in this Muslim country, Pakistan
agreed last week to co-operate fully with Washington in its campaign against
terrorism.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the three countries that formally recognized the
Taliban government — Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates — have all distanced themselves. The UAE broke diplomatic
relations with the Taliban on Saturday, and the Saudis was said to be
discussing taking the same step.
As part of an international campaign to bolster the anti-terrorism coalition, a
high-level European Union delegation is to arrive Monday in Islamabad at
the start of a week-long diplomatic tour through Islamic countries. |
