Taliban warn US against killing, arresting bin Laden

Saturday, January 22 1:31 AM SGT

KABUL, Jan 21 (AFP) - The Taliban militia in Afghanistan has warned the United States of a serious reaction if terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden was killed or arrested, official Radio Shariat said Friday.

A senior Taliban official, Mulla Amir Khan Muttaqi, made the comment to US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Karl Inderfurth and Michael Sheehan, State Department Couter-Terrorism Coordinator, Thursday in Islamabad, the station added.

He said if bin Laden was killed or arrested there would be a serious reaction by his supporters.

But Muttaqi also told the US officials bin Laden posed no threat while he was in Taliban hands.

"There is not doubt that we also want a solution to the issue of Osama, but we would like to assure you that he will not operate against you as long as he is in our hands," Muttaqi was quoted as telling the US officials.

"If he is captured or killed there will big reactions. Therefore, his stay in Afghanistan is in your interest."

"Because his supporters are not acting against the US now due to this fear that that will bring harm to Osama," he said.

Muttaqi also accused the United States of turning bin Laden into a hero of Islam.

"Concerning Osama, we should say that he was a small peronality. But because of your persistence, he has become not only a big personality, but also a Muslim world hero," Radio Shariat reported the Taliban's former information minister as saying.

Muttaqi, who is now chief of the militia's council of ministers administrative affairs, said the Taliban were keen on an immediate solution to the issue.

"We are very keen to solve this issue, but I have to add that every country has its own culture, history and principles," he said.

He asked Washington to exercise patience in this respect as the issue required "deep thought".

"You should convey our concern to the American authorities to realize our problems. Otherwise the issue will further aggravate and turn into a prblem of the nations," the Taliban official said.

Earlier Friday the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), quoting a Taliban official statement about Thursday's talks, said the ruling militia had repeated a call to the United States to resolve the issue of bin Laden through negotiations.

"We told the US official that we are ready to resolve the issue through talks and assured him that Osama bin Laden is not allowed and cannot engage in anti-US activity from Afghan soil," the statement said.

The US official was told that three proposals already made by the Taliban to resolve the issue remained valid as far as the Islamic militia was concerned, the statement said.

The Taliban had proposed that the US provide evidence of the Saudi dissident's alleged involvement in terrorism to the Afghan Supreme Court or agree to assign the issue to Islamic scholars to find a solution.

The third proposal was that the Organization of Islamic Conferencemonitor the activities of bin Laden while he lives in Afghanistan.

The Taliban statement said the Islamic militia could never betray Islamic and Afghan traditions under any outside pressure.

The US has demanded the expulsion of bin Laden from Afghanistan to stand trial on charges he masterminded the 1998 twin bombings of American embassies in East Africa in which 224 people were killed.

Bin Laden, who lives in Afghanistan, has been indicted by a US court for the bombings of two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 in which 224 people died.

Inderfurth arrived in Islamabad earlier Thursday for high-level meetings with Pakistan's three-month old military regime.