Taliban Again Refuses to Hand Over bin Laden

The Afghan Taliban on Friday rejected again the renewed demand by U.S. President George W. Bush to hand over the suspected terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

The Taliban envoy to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Satam Zaeef laughed away Bush's offer to "reconsider" military strikes against the regime if it hands over bin Laden, saying "the United States will make some more efforts" after losing more in the war.

"We reject this offer. The world has seen that the Afghans cannot be dictated", Zaeef told reporters here on Friday.

Asked if the Taliban were ready to hold talks with the U.S. or any other country, Zaeef said: "Anyone who wants to talk to the leadership or visit Afghanistan is welcome, but we haven't invited anyone, nor will we anyone invite for dialogue."

He claimed the U.S. plan was to take control of natural resources in Central Asia and that bin Laden was not the real target. "

"Even if we fulfill all the demands of Bush, he will not stop strikes because his motives are totally different..." and to gain this first (control of Central Asia) they have killed their own people now they were killing Afghans," Zaeef added.

He reiterated bin Laden was not permitted to launch terrorist attacks against any country from the Afghan soil and that he had no communication channels with the outside world.

Zaeef said the "real war with Americans" and their allied forces would be fought on ground as Afghan fighters were determined not to let a single enemy soldier return alive."

Zaeef said the Taliban armed forces were fully determined to defend their homeland. The Afghans, he said, had not only become war-hardened in the last 20 years, but had also become accustomed to all sorts of hardships.

He urged the international community and media to understand ground realities of Afghanistan.

Zaeef said that America was "deceiving" the international community by claiming that the U.S.-led forces were hitting only fixed targets while they were actually attacking and killing civilians, including women and children and destroying houses.

He claimed that according to the information he received from his ministry in Kabul, at least 270 people have been killed, mostly women, children and elderly men.

Hundreds of houses had been destroyed by bombings in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and other parts of Afghanistan, said Zaeef, adding that four close relatives of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Qmar were killed in the attacks.

He, however, refused to identify Omar's relatives.






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