The U.S. government dismissed on Thursday the message included in a newly-released Osama bin Laden's audiotape just an old tactic.
"Not a new tactic," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of bin Laden's call to urge Europeans to leave Afghanistan in the new audiotape.
In the audiotape released by Al-Jazeera television earlier the day, the voice that was self-claimed to be Bin Laden also reiterated his responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks at the United States.
It said that the United States "insisted on invading" Afghanistan even though it knew that the country was not behind the attacks, and "Europe walked behind it," the voice purported to be bin Laden's said in a "message to the European peoples."
Europe could end up in a "subordinate" to the United States if it follows the White House in Afghanistan, it added.
However, McCormack reaffirmed that the United States, European and other international partners had committed to the development of Afghanistan and he has "seen no diminution in the level of commitment."
"I think our NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies understand quite clearly what is at stake here," he said.
More than 5,800 people have been killed in conflicts and militancy-related violence over the past 11 months in war-torn Afghanistan.
Source: Xinhua
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