Osama not to be handed over even if Afghanistan destroyed: Envoy

ISLAMABAD (NNI): Osama will not be handed over to the United States if Afghanistan is destroyed and all Afghans are killed as his hand over will be tantamount to act against Islam, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Maulvi Abdul Salam Zaeef said Wednesday.

"Hand over of Osama amounts to insulting Islam and is a move to recognize the supremacy of Americans over Quranic injunctions," Mulla Zaeef told a news conference ahead of the implementation of the UN Security Councilís curbs.

"Washington only orders expulsion of Osama, which is unacceptable to Taliban. We have not closed the option of dialogue but the Americans are not ready to talk," the Taliban envoy said.

Asked about Pakistanís decision to implement the sanctions, Mulla Zaeef said the implementation of the curbs by Islamabad would not affect the relations between the two countries. "We have no complaint about Pakistanís decision as being a member of the UN, it is obliged to comply with the Security Councilís resolution," he added.

Asked whether Taliban expect another American attack on Afghanistan, he said, "We can not rule out the attack as the United States has done it before and has the power to do so in future". However, he said there is no reason for such attack. He dismissed as false the US Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurthís remarks that Washington is ready for talks with Taliban.

"We have floated three proposals to the United States for solution to Osamaís issue, however, the United States has rejected all of them. It shows their intentions that they do not believe in dialogue," he regretted.

Mulla Zaeef also accused the United States of showing no respect for Islam, as Washington is not ready to find out solution to the issue in the light of Islamic principles. "We are ready to discuss any fourth proposal to resolve the Osama issue, if it is in accordance with the Islamic Shariah and Afghanistanís traditions," he said.

He said the poor impact of UNSC sanctions is already visible on the faces of innocent Afghan children and women, the consequences of these sanctions willy-nilly trickle down to the common people of Afghanistan who have been suffering from cataclysmic economic hardships.

"The US claim of not having intentions to harm innocent people by carefully designing the sanctions to affect the government only is nothing but empty words to fool its own public and the international community. In part, this is an attempt by UNSC to misrepresent the truth. Contrarily, the impact of the sanctions is evident in different sectors relevant to public health, transportation, investment and banking".

He said following the recent UNSC sanction the Afghan currency saw a 20 percent inflation approximately causing 1000 billion loss to the Afghan people. This has greatly weakened the purchasing power of the common man. According to estimates, purchasing power of the people of Afghanistan has declined to 49 percent after the two rounds of UN sanctions on Afghanistan.

The public health sector, he said, is greatly hit by the ban on Arian flights. Ariana airlines was used for medicine and medical supplies and equipment imports. "According to the staff of Indira Ghandi Hospital in Kabul, 50 percent of medicines and medical equipment in Kabulís hospitals were shipped by Ariana. But now it is stopped".

The already-imposed sanctions have resulted in the death of numerous patients who being in critical conditions had to go abroad, but due to the ban on Ariana were unable to do so, Mulla Zaeef said.

"The sanctions have left a domino effect on the Afghan economy. Various businesses related activities have suffered in one way or the other. This includes the import and export. The Afghan traders in order to operate their business have to open letters of credit to manufacturers when they order goods. The L/C was opened in the Afghan banks abroad and once they had matured the Afghan banks would complete the transactions. Now that the Afghan banks can no longer operate outside Afghanistan, Afghan traders can not enjoy the same baking privileges easily available to businessmen in other countries. The only way the Afghan traders can operate their business now is by cash transactions".

After the sanctions last year, the investment funds backed away from financing industrial projects in Afghanistan. Each project could create thousands of job opportunities to the public and help the economy reduce imports. The fact remains that because of the sanctions the people who would have received jobs directly or indirectly suffered the most.

The Taliban envoy said the US and Russian resorted to tactics against Afghanistan which contribute to the collapse of investorsí confidence and exit of many companies who had already invested. They create an atmosphere that financial dealing is a taboo in this country.

"The US/UNSC have tried to take away food form the mouths of innocent Afghan children and medicine from the throat of the Afghan sick and elderly. The imposition of the sanctions by US is meant to stop economic recovery of our country and in fact this personifies the basis of its creation a tool for bigger powers to subjugate the smaller sanctions in a devious manner".

He said that the sanctions have been imposed on Afghanistan at a time when the country has been passing though drought situation unprecedented for the last half of a century. "According to UN estimate, 12 million Afghan people are affected by the drought and 2 million are facing starvation".

He said the inhumane sanctions are imposed by the majestic World Body at a time that dialogue is considered best way for solutions of issues. But Washington and Moscow using UN as perpetrated economic invasion against Afghanistan and prolong the war in the country. The result of such actions is poverty, unemployment for the people, bloodshed and destruction of Afghanistan.