Afghan Taleban leader insists bin Laden is innocent

1.00 pm

ISLMABAD - The leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taleban movement has defended Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden against accusations he masterminded this week's devastating terror attacks on the United States.

Mullah Mohammad Omar said in a statement released in neighbouring Pakistan that neither bin Laden nor Afghanistan had the capacity to train the suicide pilots who crashed hijacked aircraft into landmarks in New York and Washington, killing thousands of people.

"The event in America itself is indicative to the acquittal of Osama because Osama has no pilots...," he said in the statement, read at a news conference by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taleban's ambassador to Pakistan.

"Training of pilots is the work of a running government and only such (a) government has the capacity to do so," he said. "...Osama has no pilots, and where did he train them? In Afghanistan, there is no such possibility for the training."

The statement from the reclusive Taleban leader is the first he has made since Tuesday's devastating attack. He rarely gives interviews, has never agreed to be filmed or photographed and reputedly has met only two non-Muslims in his life.

The Taleban's ambassador, commenting on expectations of a US strike against bin Laden and Afghanistan for giving him shelter, said Washington should not act in haste.

"The Americans should not hurry. They should be patient," he said, adding that there should be thorough investigation to find out who was responsible for the attacks.

"I don't expect Americans will take such a hasty action without evidence," Zaeef said.

He told a questioner that Pakistani authorities had talked to the Taleban about the situation emerging from the terror attack, but he said he had no details.

Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf has assured President Bush of Islamabad's "unstinted cooperation" to fight terrorism, and he was chairing a special meeting of army commanders on Friday to discuss the situation.

Pakistan is one of only three countries which recognises the Taleban, which controls about 95 per cent of the war-torn country and is accused by an anti-Taleban alliance of giving military support to the radical Islamic movement. Islamabad denies this.

Zaeef flatly rejected requests from foreign journalists attending the news conference for visas to visit Afghanistan, saying there was no accommodation available for them.

"There are no places ... all houses are full," he said. "When the houses will be vacant, we will permit you."

Zaeef said there was now a "temporary restriction" on issuing visas for Afghan visits, but that border with Pakistan had not been closed.

- REUTERS

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