ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 19 — The leader of Afghanistan's Taliban government
expressed a willingness today to talk with the United States about Osama bin
Laden, whom the Americans want handed over as their prime suspect in the
attacks last week on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, extended the offer in a speech read
to hundreds of hard-line Islamic clerics meeting in Kabul to decide how to
respond to the American demand that they hand over Mr. bin Laden and top
lieutenants in his terrorist organization, Al Qaeda.
"We have not tried to create friction with America," Mullah Omar
said. "We have had several talks with the present and past American
governments and we are ready for more talks."
In the same speech, he accused the United States of using Mr. bin Ladin as a
pretext for organizing an attack on Afghanistan because it was the world's
"true Islamic state."
"We appeal to the American government to exercise complete patience,"
he said later, "and we want America to gather complete information and
find the real culprits." It was unclear whether the Taliban's offer to
talk was genuine or merely a rhetorical stall for time.
The text of Mullah Omar's remarks was carried by the Reuters news agency.
In Washington, the Bush administration brushed aside the Taliban leader's
offer. "The president's message to the Taliban is very simple," the
White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said. "It's time for action, not
negotiations."
President Bush, Mr. Fleischer said, wanted the Taliban "to take the
actions necessary to no longer harbor terrorists — whatever form it
takes."
Mullah Omar contended that neither Afghanistan nor Mr. bin Laden were involved
in the terrorist attacks in the United States, which have left more than 5,600
people missing or dead.
In his speech, Mullah Omar reiterated the Taliban's contention that Mr. bin
Laden, who lives under its protection in Afghanistan, was in no position to
mastermind the terrorist attacks in the United States.
"Our Islamic state is the true Islamic state in the world and for this
reason the enemies of our religion and our countries look on us as a thorn in
their eyes and use different pretexts to try to finish it, including the one
about the presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan," his speech said.
"They put the blame for Washington and New York on him," the Taliban
leader continued. "The question is, how did Osama tell the pilots? And
which airports did they use? And whose planes were those? The answer is that it
is America.
"In this regard, Afghanistan does not have the resources and neither does
Osama have the strength and resources. He is not in contact with anyone and
neither have we given permission to use the Afghan land against anyone.
"We have told America that we have taken all resources from Osama and he
cannot contact the outside world," the Taliban leader said. "And we
have told America that neither the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan or Osama are
involved in the American events. But it is sad that America does not listen to
our word."
Mullah Omar, who generally avoids public appearances, told the clerics that he
sought their guidance in proclaiming a "fatwa" — an edict binding on
Muslims under Islamic law — in the event of an American-led assault on
Afghanistan.
"We assure the world that neither Osama nor anyone else can use the Afghan
land against anyone else," Mulla Omar said. He then added that "if
even after this, America wants to use force and wants to attack Afghanistan,
and wants to destroy the Islamic emirate, we seek your guidance and a fatwa on
the issue in the light of Islamic Sharia."
The clerics' decision is not expected before at least Thursday.
The Taliban has set conditions for future American support to Taliban rule in
Afghanistan that make a peaceful end to the crisis seem increasingly unlikely.
Their demands included diplomatic recognition, a cutoff of all support for the
Taliban's opponents and a resumption of economic aid.
After a second meeting with Mullah Omar, high-ranking military officers from
Pakistan flew home on Tuesday from two days of negotiations in Kandahar and
Kabul and told associates in Islamabad that there were conflicting attitudes
that made the outcome somewhat uncertain.
On balance, though, the officers said Taliban hard-liners seemed likely to
prevail in their refusal to give up Mr. bin Laden, whatever the risk. According
to an account relayed by the officers after their return, they bluntly warned
Mullah Omar and other high-ranking clerics about the readiness of the United
States to use its military power to settle the matter, if necessary. But the
Taliban leaders remained obdurate, even serene.
"You want to please America, and I want only to please God," Mullah
Omar, a one-eyed veteran of the Muslim guerrilla struggle against the Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980's, said as he bade farewell to the
Pakistani officers, according to this account.
By stretching out the deliberations, the Taliban leaders appeared to be hoping
that events outside Afghanistan would evolve in ways that would frustrate
President Bush in his repeatedly stated intention of capturing or killing Mr.
bin Laden for the part American investigators believe he played in the attacks
on the United States last week.
The Taliban's hopes seemed to rest mainly with Pakistan, identified by the Bush
administration as a vital base for any American military operation. Events
today brought new signs that Pakistan's involvement could set off a major
domestic crisis.
Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has promised "full
support" to an American military operation, faced a mounting challenge on
two fronts. Along Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan, relief officials
reported that fears of a military showdown had set off a "mass
exodus" from Afghanistan's Taliban-controlled cities.
In another development that threatened the stability of this Muslim nation of
140 million people, a hard-line Islamic cleric in Karachi who condemned the
terrorist attacks in the United States as "wrong" for killing
innocent people changed tack abruptly and issued a religious decree, or fatwa,
calling for a "holy war" against an American military operation from
Pakistan and against General Musharraf.