Afghanistan's Taliban rulers were discussing conditions for possibly extraditing Osama bin Laden to a country other than United States, a Pakistan Government source said yesterday, hours after the Taliban urged Afghans to prepare for a holy war against America.
The conditions, including international recognition of the Taliban government and the lifting of UN sanctions against it, were discussed in a meeting on Monday in Kandahar, the headquarters of the Islamic militia that rules most of Afghanistan, the official said on condition of anonymity.
No final agreement was reached, and the Pakistan delegation returned home yesterday.
Before leaving Kabul, the Pakistani delegation met with eight detained aid workers - two Americans, four Germans and two Australians - held in the beleaguered capital by the Taliban authorities on charges of preaching Christianity, the official said. Pakistan asked the Taliban to release the aid workers, and the rulers promised to consider the request, he said.
In meetings with the Taliban, the Pakistani team delivered a blunt message: Either hand over bin Laden or be sure to be attacked by a multinational military force, led by the US.
A grand council of Islamic clerics was gathering yesterday in Kabul to discuss the ultimatum. But the ruling Taliban have said bin Laden has been wrongly implicated in last week's terror attacks in New York and Washington, and they have been preparing Afghans for the worst.
Warning of a possible US attack, Taliban's leaders urged Afghans to prepare for a jihad, or holy war, against the United States, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported yesterday.
"If America attacks our homes, it is necessary for all Muslims, especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war," Mullah Mohammed Hasan Akhund, the deputy Taliban leader, said on Monday, according to the state-run Radio Shariat. "God is on our side, and if the world's people try to set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us."
Since taking control of most of Afghanistan in 1996, the Taliban have declared holy wars against the northern-based anti-Taliban alliance, Russia and Iran, but never the United States.
Throughout Afghanistan on Monday, the Taliban leaders were sending a message to their people: "Stay united and prepare for jihad against US invaders," the Bakhtar News Agency reported.
It seemed unlikely that the United States would accept bin Laden being extradited to another country and tried there for the crimes Washington has accused him of. "The accusations against Osama bin Laden are baseless and a pretext to attack Afghanistan," the state-run new agency said.
Within hours of the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, the Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, condemned the violence and said that it would have been impossible for bin Laden to carry out the assaults because he doesn't have the facilities for such an elaborate operation.
Since then, the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has declared himself head of the Muslims, has defended bin Laden and accused the United States of pointing the finger in his direction because its investigators have been unable to come up with a real suspect.
The US Embassy in Islamabad said yesterday that the US Government has authorized its nonessential embassy staff members and their families to evacuate Pakistan amid fears of possible violence and terrorist strikes against Americans.
(Xinhua News Agency 09/19/2001)
