A senior Pakistani delegation began talks with the Taliban in their stronghold of Kandahar Monday and will urge the Islamists to hand over Osama bin Laden, suspected of masterminding terrorist attacks, within three days, said reports.
The Afghan Islamic Press reported that senior military intelligence chiefs and foreign ministry officials met Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel in the southern city where bin Laden owns a house and spends much of his time.
Sources told CNN that the Pakistani delegation would urge Taliban to hand over bin Laden “within three days.”
"The delegation has arrived and the talks with the foreign minister are underway," a Taliban spokesman was quoted by AFP as saying in the report.
The delegation is scheduled to meet Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his military chief Mullah Mohammad Hassan in the afternoon, the spokesman said.
Pakistan has promised its unflinching support to the United States in its new war against terrorism, starting with efforts to "smoke out" Saudi dissident bin Laden, who is the prime suspect in investigations into the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Bin Laden has already been indicted over the 1998 twin US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, but the Taliban have refused to extradite him, saying Washington has no evidence and that he is a "guest" who cannot be delivered to his enemies.
Any decision to extradite bin Laden would be authorized by Omar and his secretive inner circle of religious and military chiefs which run the Taliban from Kandahar.
But the Saudi dissident categorically denied any involvement in the attacks on Sunday.
"I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders' rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations," bin Laden said in a statement, carried by the Afghan Press.
Pakistan is one of only three countries which recognize the Taliban theocracy, and its military intelligence agency has been a strong backer of the Islamic militia since it emerged in 1994 – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
