Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Monday denied reports that Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel had left the country, and said their supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had so far survived US bombing.
Reports of Mutawakel's defection are "baseless, concocted and sheer lies," Mohammad Tayyab Aghal, a spokesman for Omar, told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.
"He is continuing with his duties in Kandahar," he added. Kandahar is the Taliban's stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
Regarding Omar, one of the targets of US air strikes, the spokesman said: "Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid is fine and there is no problem."
The spokesman again reiterated tht the Taliban would never hand over Osama bin Laden, as the US has demanded, as a condition for stopping the bombing.
"The question of whether we should hand over Osama bin Laden or not does not arise," he said.
"Rather, it has been established that America is an enemy of our system and Islam."
He insisted the hardline Islamic militia remained united. "There are no differences (between us). Our stance is firm and known. We are all following the commander of the faithful (Omar)" -- Islamabad, (AFP)
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