ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, 1 October — Afghanistan’s Taleban regime defiantly acknowledged yesterday it was protecting Osama Bin Laden from the wrath of the United States for his suspected role in the Sept. 11 terrorist onslaught.
A senior Taleban official in Islamabad said that the world’s most wanted man was under the control of the regime, which had no intention of turning him over to the Americans despite their military buildup.
The statements drew a muted response from the United States, which has targeted Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network and vowed to punish the Taleban unless they cooperated in bringing them to justice. “I have no reason to believe anything a Taleban representative would say,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told US television. He and other officials gave no sign when they would unleash their long-threatened response. The United States has launched the most massive manhunt in its history for Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the kamikaze attacks on New York and Washington that left more than 7,000 people dead or missing. For more than a week, the Taleban regime in Kabul had maintained that it did not know the whereabouts of Bin Laden. But Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taleban envoy in Islamabad, told a different story yesterday.
“Osama Bin Laden is under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and only security people know where he is,” said Zaeef, one of the most visible spokesmen of the Afghan regime. “He is in Afghanistan, in an unknown place, for his safety and security,” Zaeef told a news conference. “I want to state categorically that Osama Bin Laden will not be handed to anyone.”
Zaeef’s statement came amid persistent reports that US, British and perhaps Australian commandos were already operating in Afghanistan ahead of possible US-led retaliatory attacks against Bin Laden and the Taleban.
With the Taleban standing firm against the United States, divisions persisted among US allies whether there was enough solid proof to link Bin Laden to the carnage at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. British Prime Minister Tony Blair told BBC television he had seen “absolutely powerful and incontrovertible evidence” of Bin Laden’s guilt. He gave no details, citing sensitive intelligence concerns.
But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said “there is no evidence that has been shared with us as yet. Therefore all I know is from the television.” He said he expected Washington to share unclassified information.
The United States has assembled a force of at least 30,000 men and more than 300 aircraft for the operation in Southwest Asia with more on the way, officials said.
At the same time, Washington has been weighing various formulas for action against the Taleban, including supporting the Northern Alliance fighters opposing the regime or using the country’s former king as a unifying force.
The United States wants the Taleban out of power, but the former king left the door open to a role for them in a future coalition government, according to Republican Congressman Curt Weldon, chairman of the armed services military readiness subcommittee.
The opposition’s acting foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said in Khwaja Bahauddin, northern Afghanistan, however, that there had been no agreement with Zahir Shah for any joint council to take power from the Taleban.
Meanwhile, within days of the 11 terror attacks, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Washington supervised the urgent evacuation of 24 members of Bin Laden’s extended family, fearing they could be assaulted, the New York Times reported yesterday. The Times cited Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar Bin Sultan as saying most of the relatives of Bin Laden who were evacuated were studying in the United States. The diplomat said the embassy received an urgent message pointing out there were Bin Laden children “all over America.” “Take measures to protect the innocent,” the message said, according to the daily.
In Kabul, Taleban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar warned his troops would pursue a guerrilla war if the regime was toppled by an alliance of opposition forces. “Don’t you know the nature of Afghans that they will fight against your corrupt administration?” he said in a statement pointed at the popular ex-king. In a statement carried by Taleban-run Radio Shariat, Mullah Omar finally slammed the door on the prospect of any compromise, and vowed to fight a long guerrilla war if his hard-line regime was toppled. “Do you not feel ashamed at coming back with the support of the Americans?” Omar said in comments directed at 86-year-old former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, who has been living in exile since 1973.
Zahir Shah was yesterday locked in discussions with US congressmen over forming a new broad based government with anti-Taleban factions, amid growing signs that the US-led war on terrorism was also seeking to oust the Taleban from power.
