Bin Laden Won't Be Handed Over, Taliban Tells Pakistani Envoys
By Cherif Cordahi, or cherifcord@bloomberg.net, with Haris Zamir
Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban won't give up Osama bin Laden, named by the U.S. as the prime suspect in attacks in New York and Washington, a Taliban official told a Pakistani delegation.
``Our position is that we will not hand over Osama bin Laden,'' Abdul Rehman Zahid, the Taliban's deputy foreign minister, told the Qatar-based Al-Jazira television channel.
Zahid was speaking while the delegation met in Kandahar, the southeastern Afghan city where the Taliban leadership is based. The envoys are trying to persuade the militia to give up bin Laden to prevent a U.S. military assault on Afghanistan.
``The negotiations in Kandahar are going on now, and there is no progress so far,'' Zahid told Al-Jazira.
The Pakistani delegation, headed by intelligence chief Mehmood Ahmed, met Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil. The team plans to meet the Taliban's Islamic spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in the Afghan capital, Kabul, later today, state-run Pakistan Television said.
``Their mandate is to seek the extradition of Osama bin Laden and apprise Mullah Omar of the crisis in the region and to warn him of the consequences if bin Laden is not extradited,'' a Pakistan government spokesman said yesterday.
The Afghans have been given three days to hand over bin Laden, news reports said.
International Efforts
Pakistan agreed to join international efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of Tuesday's attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. The Pakistan government agreed to let the U.S. use its air space should it be needed in a strike against bin Laden and his supporters.
Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, must balance pressure from the U.S. to break with the Taliban and cooperate in a possible military strike against domestic opposition to any U.S. attack on Afghanistan among Pakistan's Islamic political parties and more than 1 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Pakistan is seeking to contain resistance at home to the plan. Law-enforcement agencies have been given emergency powers and surveillance of religious groups has been stepped up to prevent violence during demonstrations supporting the Taliban.
Musharraf needs to build a consensus in the Muslim country in support of his pledges to the U.S. and convince religious and political groupings that Pakistan will be rewarded in return.
In return for Pakistan's help, Musharraf has sought U.S. assistance in resolving the conflict with India over Kashmir. The Pakistani leader also wants U.S. economic aid and protection for its nuclear installations.
President Ousted
Pakistan is one of only three nations that recognized the rule of the Taliban after the militia drove President Burhanuddin Rabbani from the capital, Kabul, in 1996.
One of the larger Muslim groups in Pakistan called on Musharraf to reject the U.S. demands and instead to help Afghanistan in its Jihad (holy war) against ``infidels,'' according to Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who heads Jamiat Ulema Islam.
A Council for the Defense of Afghanistan has been set up by a group of Pakistani religious parties and is drawing up a response to Musharraf's plans, Sami-ul-Haq said.
Sami-ul-Haq said in an interview that Pakistanis will defy any attempt by the government to silence their voices.
Pakistan's Khyber Rifles and Taliban border forces have taken up positions against each other for the first time on the frontier at Torkham, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported. The Taliban border guards have installed anti-aircraft guns, another Pakistani newspaper, the News, said.
Blockade
Pakistan also began a blockade of Afghanistan yesterday, with the movement of goods destined for the country being halted, the News said, citing an unnamed official. More than $1 million in food, machinery and other goods are shipped to Afghanistan from Pakistan monthly, the paper said.
The Taliban's bank accounts in Pakistan were frozen three to four months ago after the United Nations imposed sanctions, the News said, citing the Pakistani central bank.
Afghanistan is under UN sanctions, including a ban on diplomatic contacts, for refusing to hand over bin Laden after terrorist attacks in 1998 on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden has denied his involvement in the embassy attacks and last week's assault on the U.S.
``I stress again that I have not carried out this act,'' the Associated Press cited him as saying in a statement broadcast by Qatar's Al-Jazira television. Tuesday's attack ``appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation.''
Thousands Flee
Thousands of people are leaving their homes in Kabul and other Afghan cities, fearing an attack is imminent. The exodus from Kabul included junior Taliban commanders and officials with their families, Reuters and ITAR-TASS reported. The majority of senior Taliban leaders are based in Kandahar.
The Taliban have closed air space over territory they control and warned that all aircraft will be shot down. The ban applies to all countries and international organizations, including the UN, ITAR-TASS reported.
Iran, Pakistan and China have closed their borders with Afghanistan to prevent an influx of refugees.
``We know that population movements (in Afghanistan) are three times larger than normal,'' Surendra Banday, a representative of the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Iran, told AFP.
``Kandahar is half empty. People are fleeing Kabul and Jalalabad for the countryside,'' Kris Janowski, a spokesman for the UNHCR, told AFP.
Mullah Omar yesterday called for an urgent meeting in Kabul of senior Muslim clerics to discuss ``the possible attack by America on the sacred soil of Afghanistan,'' Reuters cited him as saying on the Taliban's Voice of Shariat radio station.
The meeting of 1,000 delegates would take place by Wednesday, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal told Reuters. |
