taliban say osama presence in afghanistan in us interest

islamabad, jan. 21, irna -- afghanistan's taliban militia has told the united states that presence of osama bin laden was in the best interest of washington because his followers would not try to endanger his position. 'osama's supporters will not act against the united states until the arab millionaire is in afghanistan,' head of the taliban delegation, mulla amir khan muttaqi told coordinator of the us state department on terrorism, michael sheehan at a meeting here. he said, 'osama was a small individual but the united states made him a hero of the islamic world and a strong reaction would now follow if he is arrested or killed.' 'we told sheehan that we want osama's problem to be resolved but very country has its own principles and traditions and we have to do what our people want us to do,' muttaqi said in a statement, released by the taliban embassy here.

assistant us secretary of state for south asia, karl inderfurth, us ambassador in islamabad, william w. milam and other us diplomats were also present at the meeting held at the us embassy here. muttaqi was assisted by the taliban envoy for pakistan, syed mohammad haqqani. muttaqi reiterated the three different types of solution which taliban had in the past presented for tackling the issue of osama bin laden. these included: that us should hand over incriminating documents against osama bin laden to the taliban supreme court so that the latter may put him to trial; that a council of islamic scholars should ecide the issue and: that osama be put under the surveillance of the oic. he said the united states did not accept any of these proposals. 'the united states should cautiously study any report it receives about,' the taliban leader said, hoping that the united states would not raise this issue in future meeting and would 'instead ponder over the problems of rehabilitation and reconstruction of afghanistan.'

michael sheehan made it clear to the taliban delegation that the united nations and the us wanted to get the issue of osama bin lden resolved. he said, the us was also aware of what the taliban were doing regarding osama bin laden and what limitations they have imposed on him. the issue of hijacking of the indian plane to kandahar was also raised during the meeting and the taliban delegation said that taliban allowed landing permission to the plane after getting the consent of the indian government.