Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, wanted by the United States as a prime suspect in last week's attacks in the United States, is missing, Abul Hai Mutmaen, spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, told reporters today.
Mullah Omar, spiritual leader of the purist Taliban movement that controls Afghanistan, had approved a decision last week by Afghanistan's most senior clerics to recommend that bin Laden be persuaded to leave the country, he said.
"We have still not been able to deliver the clerics' message to him because we could not find him", Mutmaen said by telephone from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Asked if the world's most wanted man was still in Afghanistan, he said: "I cannot say".
The US is "not going to be deterred by comments" that Osama bin Laden is missing, US national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice said in response to the news.
The United States has threatened to attack Afghanistan if it does not hand bin Laden over for trial.
Earlier Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement said it has not changed its stance on handing over Osama bin Laden.
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There is no change in our decision. American demands are not in favour of Muslims and Afghans and we are not ready to accept this, Taliban spokesman Mr Abdul Hai Mutamaen was quoted by Pakistan-based AIP as saying.
The United States has insisted that the Taliban hand over bin Laden, the man Washington regards as the prime suspect in the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington, which killed over 6,000 people.
But the Taliban have said they would surrender bin Laden only if evidence of his guilt was provided, or if he volunteered to leave. Bin Laden has lived in Afghanistan as the guest of the Taliban since 1996.