Facing a US ultimatum to hand over Osama bin Laden immediately, the Taliban's supreme leader was expected Friday to endorse a call by senior Islamic clerics for the world's most wanted man to leave Afghanistan.
Some 1,000 Islamic scholars, or ulema, called on the Taliban on Thursday to ask the Saudi-born bin Laden to leave Afghanistan voluntarily to avert war with the United States.
It was expected to receive the blessing of the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
In Islamabad, however, the regime's ambassador to Pakistan told the Afghan Islamic Press on Friday that the Taliban will never hand over bin Laden, the man suspected of masterminding the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington
"This is not possible. There is no change in our stand toward Osama. Handing him over to America or forcing him out of the country is an insult to Islam and Shariat," Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef was quoted as saying.
US President George W. Bush reiterated Washington's ultimatum in a speech to Congress on Thursday, saying the Taliban must hand over bin Laden "immediately" or share his fate.
Amid heightened US military preparations for a strike against Afghanistan, the US president presented four specific demands.
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion," said Bush. "The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate."
Bush ordered the Islamic fundamentalist militia to "deliver to (the) United States" all the leaders of the bin Laden's organization al-Qaeda, or The Base.
He demanded the release of all foreign nationals, including US citizens, "unjustly imprisoned" -- an apparent reference to Americans among eight foreign aid workers put on trial by the Taliban for allegedly preaching Christianity.
He ordered the Taliban to "close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities."
His final demand was to "give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating."
Taliban Education Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi said Mullah Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader and spiritual authority, would act on Thursday's ruling by the clerics but it could take some time for bin Laden to get out of Afghanistan.
"The Muslim nation of Afghanistan has always been true to the order of ulema (scholars)," Mutaqi said. "We are sure that Amir-al-Momineen (commander of the faithful, Omar) will act in accordance with the edict of the ulema as he has always intimated that he will do so."
A Pakistani newspaper reported meanwhile that bin Laden had already left Afghanistan, for an unknown destination.
The News daily, citing various unidentified sources and a former interior minister of Pakistan, said bin Laden left the country on Monday, ahead of the meeting of Afghan Islamic clerics to discuss whether to extradite him.
The News said that according to former Pakistani interior minister Naseerullah Babar, bin Laden had left Afghanistan four days ago. Babar, who was not quoted directly, could not immediately be reached.
The paper admitted that it could not confirm its report with the Taliban.
The News quoted a source "close to the Taliban" as saying: "Osama has left Afghanistan four days ago and is no longer in the country. I believe the news is not wrong. He must be out of Afghan soil."
Speculation that bin Laden has left Afghanistan has been rife since the clerics announced their unexpected ruling on Thursday after two days of debate.
Until then, the Taliban leadership and the clerics had given no indication that they would ask him to leave, encouraging speculation that the meeting was a stalling tactic designed to give bin Laden time to get out.
The Taliban has harbored bin Laden, a multi-millionaire Saudi dissident, since 1996, when he arrived from Sudan. Before last weeks's attacks, bin Laden already figured prominently on the FBI's 10 most wanted list.
He has been indicted in the United States for masterminding the bomb attacks against two US embassies in Africa that claimed 224 lives.
Bin Laden is also suspected of plotting last year's bombing of a US warship, the USS Cole, in Yemen. Seventeen US sailors died when a dinghy packed with explosives rammed the ship in Aden -- KABUL (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
