Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said yesterday its supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was likely to accept an edict of Islamic clerics recommending the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, leave the country.
The recommendation was made earlier yesterday by a council of top clerics convened by Omar to consider the fate of the dissident wanted by the US.
"A demand has been made ... we are sure that His Excellency Amir-ul-Momineen [Leader of the Faithful] has always acted on the verdicts of the clerics and from now onward will act on the basis of the clerics' guidance," Education Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference in Kabul.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Although the edict gave no deadline, it appeared that the verdict by the clerics on bin Laden deprived the militant multi-millionaire of the protection of a tradition of Pashtuns -- Afghanistan's dominant ethnic group -- to safeguard their guests at the cost of their lives.
Asked when bin Laden, wanted by US President George W. Bush "dead of alive" for last week's devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, would leave, Muttaqi said: "It will take time."
He said he did not know how the Saudi-born militant, for years a "guest" of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, could go.
Washington says bin Laden is the prime suspect in last week's devastating attacks and has vowed to hunt him down and punish all those who protect him, raising the prospect of a military operation in war-torn Afghanistan.
It was unclear whether bin Laden would leave, and if so where he would go, or even whether the edict would be enough to prevent the US from following through with its threats.
"Our hope now is that America considers the decision of the ulema [clerics] and the issue is solved," Muttaqi said.
"And we are sure that America will think about it and find a solution," he added. "War and force is not the only solution."
But the Taliban warned that the US faced a formidable and battle-hardened enemy in Afghanistan, whose people repulsed the British in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
"We can present in the history of Islam lots of examples when Muslims were fewer and the enemy forces were much larger," he said.
While Omar, who holds the original Islamic title of Amir-ul-Momineen as the head of a Muslim state, had made a new offer of talks with the US, "then what is the necessity of war?" Muttaqi said.
Asked what could happen if bin Laden refused to leave Afghanistan, Muttaqi said: "Basically no order has been made.... A demand has been made ... recommendations have been made to encourage Osama ... so he goes to another suitable place."
The edict said Muslims should launch a holy war, or jihad, if the US prosecuted a war against the Taliban.
"If infidels invade an Islamic country and that country does not have the ability to defend itself, jihad becomes a definite obligation of all the world's Muslims," it said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)