The countdown to conflict in Afghanistan was ticking faster Monday with a US warning that the Taliban's days in power were numbered and the ruling Islamic militia threatening a protracted guerrilla war.
As the Taliban admitted for the first time that it was shielding terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden, the militia's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, vowed late Sunday that his forces would emerge victorious from a long guerrilla war if attacked by the United States.
"The (Taliban) government may collapse, but it will be the same as during the time of the Jihad (against the Soviet Union). New fronts will be established, just like against the communists," Omar said in a broadcast on Taliban-run Radio Shariat.
"You may capture the airports and the capital and the cities, but people will go to the mountains," Omar said.
"God willing, I believe that neither the US or their allies will be able to do anything. They will only find the same destiny as the communists."
His broadcast came shortly after the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said bin Laden was under their protection and being kept at a secret location for his own safety.
"Osama bin Laden is under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and only security people know where he is," Zaeef told reporters.
"He is in Afghanistan in an unknown place for his safety and security," Zaeef said. "I want to state categorically that Osama bin Laden will not be handed to anyone."
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield said he had no reason to believe the Taliban was controlling bin Laden, but Washington warned it would move to throw the regime out of power unless it handed him over.
"The Taliban organization has worked in close concert with Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network," White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told Fox News Sunday.
"They cannot be a party to these terrorist acts, and if they're going to continue to be a party to the terrorist acts, they should not be in power."
But Card stopped short of saying the United States would replace the Taliban regime, saying Washington was primarily interested in ridding the world of terrorists and their havens.
Bin Laden, who is accused of masterminding the devastating suicide hijackings in the United States on September 11, has been living in Afghanistan since 1996 as a "guest" of the Taliban, which rules most of the country except for pockets under the control of ethnic-based opposition forces.
In his radio broadcast, Taliban leader Omar also attacked Afghanistan's 86-year-old former king, Mohammed Zahir, for talking with US congressman about him forming an alliance with anti-Taliban factions.
He then delivered a chilling warning to Afghans collaborating with anti-Taliban elements: "Afghans should not fulfil the interests of the United States. If you pay no attention to Islam and God's law, then your death will be allowed."
Meanwhile Pervez Musharraf, president of Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan, told CNN that hopes the Taliban would comply with US demands were now "very dim."
He again pledged to help the US war on terrorism with intelligence-sharing, overflight rights and logistical support.
While the rhetoric between the opposing groups continued, the first humanitarian aid to enter Afghanistan in three weeks began to roll across the Pakistan border Sunday.
The aid was expected to bring 400 tons of wheat and some hope for the eight million displaced Afghans that the United Nations estimates are in need of emergency assistance -- KABUL (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
