Leaders in Afghanistan for Talks
By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer
Friday September 28 10:35 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - In a new bid to break the deadlock over Osama bin Laden, Pakistani religious leaders and government officials traveled to Afghanistan on Friday to try to press the ruling Taliban to surrender bin Laden or force him to leave the country.
In Pakistan, the first of a series of planeloads of food aid earmarked for Afghan refugees arrived in the border city of Peshawar, and angry demonstrators took to the streets to protest against Pakistan's support for the United States in the crisis. Worshippers in Kabul, the Afghan capital, called on God to bring down America after Friday Muslim prayers.
The Pakistani delegation's visit to Afghanistan came a day after the Taliban delivered a message to bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, asking him to leave the country voluntarily. It was the first indication from the Taliban that they knew where bin Laden was, or how to communicate with him.
President Bush has demanded the Taliban surrender bin Laden or share his fate, raising expectations of an American-led military action against Afghanistan, though none has yet materialized and American officials now say none is imminent.
The Taliban ambassador in neighboring Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, accompanied the Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban's home base. He confirmed in a statement to the Afghan Islamic Press agency that the team - which included Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, the head of Pakistan's intelligence service - was to meet with the reclusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and was expected to fly back Friday night.
A second delegation, consisting of clerics from Pakistan's main Islamic parties, said it hoped to travel to Afghanistan in coming days.
Officials would spell out the delegation's message to the Taliban. But Riaz Mohammed Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Office, said: ``In view of the gravity of the situation, the Afghan leadership should be responsive to what the world is expecting of them.''
Gen. Rashid Qureshi, spokesman of Pakistan's military government, said the contact reflected Pakistan's determination to help resolve the standoff between the United States and the Taliban, Afghanistan's hard-line leaders.
``It is a continuation of the diplomatic contacts Pakistan has with the Afghan government to persuade them of the need to address the concerns of the United States and the world community,'' he told The Associated Press. ``Pakistan will continue to try its best to resolve the crisis amicably.''
Pakistan's decision to support the United States - including possible use of its airspace and territory as staging ground for any military strikes - has drawn fury from hard-line Islamic groups inside the country, and more protests erupted on Friday.
In Islamabad, the country's biggest Sunni Muslim party, Sipah-e-Sahaba, staged a raucous protest near a central mosque after Friday's prayers, the most important of the Muslim week. Protesters carried placards reading ``Osama is our hero'' and ``Anyone who supports America is a traitor.'' They burned U.S. and U.N. flags and an effigy of Bush.
A delegation of students from another Islamic party handed over a letter to the main United Nations office in Islamabad, demanding that there be no U.S. strike on Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, worshippers at the main mosque in the capital, Kabul, called on God to punish the ``arrogance'' of the United States. The mullah told them in his sermon that Afghans ``will never bow'' before the United States.
Amid fears of war, hundreds of thousands of refugees have been on the move inside Afghanistan, and the United Nations has warned of a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, with food stocks dwindling and the start of the harsh Afghan winter is only six weeks away.
The first of several planeloads of food being flown to Afghanistan's neighbors by the World Food Program arrived Friday in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, the WFP said.
Kabul Radio denied reports of food shortages in the capital and major provinces. A broadcast monitored Thursday in Islamabad quoted senior municipal officials as saying there was enough food in markets and assuring residents ``we have sufficient stocks available in Kabul and other provinces.''
Best Regards, J.T. |
