The Taliban have told Osama bin Laden he should leave Afghanistan voluntarily, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan has told journalists.
Despite previous reports that the Taliban had lost trace of the Al Qaeda leader, the US Secretary of State said yesterday he was certain that bin Laden had "got the message".
But he reiterated non-negotiable US demands that the Taliban must go beyond handing over bin Laden, insisting they must also surrender lieutenants. Mr Powell said the Taliban also had to wind up the Al Qaeda organisation and verifiably close down terrorist training camps.
The recommendation to bin Laden was made a week ago on September 20th by a council of clerics, or the Ulema, during a meeting in Kabul.
"Osama has now received the Ulema council's recommendations and their endorsement" by the Taliban's leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef said.
He added: "We have not lost Osama, but he is out of sight of the people."
Mr Zaeef did not say how the message was conveyed nor where bin Laden was hiding. He also did not indicate bin Laden's reaction to the message.
The US has continued to establish links with various Afghan groups, from the 86-year-old King in Roem, to the Northern Alliance, which controls some 10 per cent of the country, to a group of dissident exiles, mainly academics and former politicians, in Cyprus.
The contacts have also extended covertly to dissident members of the Taliban, diplomatic sources have told CNN.
US spokesmen have been careful not to talk publicly of replacing the Taliban regime or of explicit support for the Northern Alliance in deference to Pakistani sensitivities.
Pakistan is deeply hostile to the Northern Alliance and one US diplomat has been quoted saying there would be "no point in winning over Afghanistan only to lose Pakistan".
US efforts appear to be aimed at the replacement of the present Afghan government by one reflecting all the forces they have been in touch with.
These could include, potentially, some Taliban dissidents and tribal chiefs now involved with the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Rev Jesse Jackson said a possible visit by him to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban leadership would have the aim of averting casualties. They have agreed to meet him.
Administration sources said that the Rev Jackson was free to go but that there was no room for negotiations and warned that the invitation could be a delaying tactic by the Taliban.
The Rev Jackson, who helped free US citizens during conflicts in other countries, said he had discussed the Taliban invitation with the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, and the National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice. He said was now weighing whether to lead a delegation to Pakistan to meet with Taliban representatives.
"If we were to go on such a mission, it would be humanitarian, and the moral appeal we would make would be essentially the same as the government position," he said.
Mr Powell yesterday also met Jordan's King Abdullah who has been a prominent regional supporter of the idea of a global coalition against terrorism.
Neither man spoke to the press afterwards but the King has advocated a measured response to the assaults on the US to avoid aggravating an already tense Middle.
The monarch also has been an outspoken advocate of a more energetic US effort to achieve a resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to help reach a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East.