Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said today they were holding Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden in a secret location as he pondered an edict from their spiritual leader asking him to leave the country. These calims have been rejected by Washington.
And in a sign that dissent was spreading in areas under the Taliban's control, authorities said they had arrested six people for distributing pro-American pamphlets that called for the return of ex-king Mohammad Zahir Shah.
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The Taliban claim to
have Osama bin Laden (above) under their control. |
Confirmation that bin Laden was in the Taliban's hands - while not surprising - increases pressure on Kabul to hand over the world's most wanted man to avoid threatened U.S. strikes.
Previously, the Taliban had said the millionaire, the top suspect in the September 11th suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington, was missing. "Osama is in Afghanistan, but he is at an unknown place for his safety and security," the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef, told reporters in Islamabad.
"Only security people know about his whereabouts...Osama bin Laden is under our control." But Mr Zaeef said bin Laden had still not responded to a request from clerics and Taliban spiritual and supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to leave at his own leisure.
"The ulema (council of clerics) recommendation was handed to him...," Mr Zaeef said. "There has been no response." Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf said hopes were dim that the Taliban would hand over bin Laden.
"I would say, yes, we haven't been able to succeed in moderating their views on surrendering Osama bin Laden," said Gen Musharraf, who has sent two abortive missions to Omar to try to convince him to surrender bin Laden.
"But we have our doors open and some progress has been made and we hope a little more progress can be made." The president, who has thrown his weight behind the US decision to wage war on terrorism, was cautious in giving any details of US military operations in the region: "I don't at all know who are based on Afghanistan but I am certainly very clear that nobody is based on Pakistan as yet." Earlier this month, about 1,000 Islamic scholars met and recommended that bin Laden leave the country voluntarily at a time of his own choosing. The US said that fell short of its demands.