A week after terrorist attacks in the US which left more than 5,000 people dead or missing, Afghanistan gave mixed signals over the fate of prime suspect Osama bin Laden, whom President George W. Bush said he wants "dead or alive."
Some reports said that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban might be prepared to hand over the Saudi-born exile under certain conditions, including trial in a neutral Islamic country.
Reports in Pakistani newspapers raised the possibility that the Taliban could be ready for negotiations.
The Taliban might be prepared to give bin Laden up under certain conditions, according to the reports in the Nation and Jang newspapers. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The conditions included the trial of bin Laden in a neutral Islamic country, lifting of UN sanctions against the Taliban, economic assistance and suspension of foreign aid and military supplies to the Afghan opposition, said the reports.
But a senior Afghan cleric also said the Taliban would launch a jihad or holy war against the US if it attacks militarily, although officials of the Islamic movement quickly said the final decision lay with a council of clerics due to convene this week.
That council yesterday postponed for 24 hours a discussion on the fate of bin Laden.
Meanwhile, in their biggest offensive in months, Taliban forces launched an attack in the northeastern province of Takhar in a bid to cut their opponents' key supply lines from neighboring Tajikistan.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised doubts yesterday about whether the surrender of bin Laden would be enough to avert a US-led military campaign against terrorism.
"Clearly you begin on a journey with one step, and he would be one step," Rumsfeld said. But he added, "If bin Laden were not there the organization would continue doing what it's been doing. So clearly the problem is much bigger than bin Laden."
Preparing the nation for a long, hard war and vowing justice for those killed in the coordinated assaults President George W. Bush issued a warning to the Taliban.
"All I can tell you is that Osama bin Laden is a prime suspect, and the people who house him, encourage him, provide food, comfort or money are on notice," Bush said, adding: "And the Taliban must take my statement seriously."
"We will win the war and there will be costs," Bush said, referring to casualties. "I want justice. And there's an old poster out West that says, `Wanted: Dead or Alive.'"
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