12.00 pm
KABUL - Senior Afghan Islamic clerics are gathering in the capital, Kabul, to discuss the fate of US attack suspect Osama bin Laden, but the ruling Taleban is giving no sign that it is ready to surrender the Saudi-born fugitive.
"The Shura (council) meeting of clerics in Kabul tomorrow will fully discuss and take a decision on the latest situation arising out of a possible attack by the United States and Osama bin Laden," Taleban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutamaen told the Afghan Islamic Press on Monday
"The decision and edict of the clerics...is important and compulsory and the government will implement it fully," he said.
It was unclear whether the council would discuss surrendering bin Laden in line with US demands, or even if it had the authority to do so, given the reverence that surrounds his chief protector, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the purist Taleban.
Mutamaen was speaking after a Pakistani delegation held three hours of talks with Mullah Omar in his southern stronghold, Kandahar, on what Islamabad's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar called an 11th-hour mission to avert a major crisis.
Mutmaen called the talks "positive" but gave no hint as to what progress, if any, had been achieved. "We are 60 percent hopeful that conditions will be returned to normal."
The Pakistan team flew to Kabul for the night, deciding to extend their visit by another day in a bid to convince the Taleban of the danger they face by continuing to harbour bin Laden after Tuesday's devastating attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
The United States says bin Laden -- who lives as a "guest" of the Taleban -- is a prime suspect and has vowed to punish those responsible and anyone who protects them.
President George W Bush said Americans wanted bin Laden "dead or alive".
Sattar said the Pakistani delegation had delivered no ultimatum or warning to Mullah Omar from the United States, nor was the mission the beginning of a negotiation.
"The US feels very deeply hurt," he told Reuters in an interview. "It doesn't have the patience for arguments for negotiation. It is time for action, decisions."
Pakistan is one of only three countries to recognise the Taleban government and was a key backer of the purist Islamic movement as it seized most of the country in the mid-1990s.
But their ties may be fraying as Musharraf has promised full cooperation with US efforts to end global terrorism. Pakistan was angered by a blunt warning delivered by the Taleban ambassador, who threatened revenge if it helped Washington.
"That was not welcome," Sattar said.
Bin Laden and the Taleban continue to deny any involvement in the US attacks.
"I have taken an oath of allegiance (to Mullah Omar) which does not allow me to do such things from Afghanistan," bin Laden said in a statement faxed to the Afghan Islamic Press on Sunday.
Sattar said it was possible the Taleban were simply unaware of the strength of international feeling against them.
"Try to picture the environment in which the government makes decisions," he said of the Taleban and their leader, a reclusive, one-eyed cleric who has never been photographed and is believed to have met only two non-Muslims in his life.
"Their sources of external information are possibly television and probably radio... My fear is perhaps the government and leadership are not fully aware of the storm that broke loose on September 11."
Sattar said unless the Taleban volunteered a positive reaction, they could well bring about their own demise.
"That is a real possibility," he said. "Given current circumstances it is realistic to conclude.
The Pakistani delegation is headed by intelligence chief General Mahmood Ahmed, who was in Washington during last Tuesday's attack and stranded in the ensuing airline chaos.
"I am sure he would have given them a summary of what he heard from high-level US officials and given them his own assessment of the critical nature of the current situation," Sattar said.
Mullah Omar has already said the Taleban would declare a jihad, or holy war, against the United States if it attacked and also against any country that assists Washington.
But despite the bravado, there were signs of nervousness among the leadership.
On Monday, Taleban officials began fleeing Kabul. They were seen heading for the countryside, but it was not clear if this was under instructions from Mullah Omar.
The movement has appealed to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference -- which doesn't recognise it -- to help in case of an attack by the United States.
Pakistan effectively closed its borders on Monday as tens of thousands of Afghans streamed toward the frontier, sparking fears of a mass exodus and prompting aid officials to put emergency plans in place.
Aid officials were worried large numbers of Afghans may head for neighbouring Pakistan, already overburdened with more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees from two decades of civil strife.
The border was effectively closed, with only trucks carrying such items as grapes and melons and Afghans equipped with valid travel documents allowed to enter Pakistan at the Torkham gate that divides the Khyber Pass from Afghanistan, officials said.
They said Pakistan had tightened security at crossing points along its porous 1400-km border with Afghanistan.
- REUTERS
Map: Opposing forces in the war against terror
Emergency telephone numbers for friends and family of victims and survivors
: 0168 1800 932 8555
: 0168 1800 245 0999
NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
: 0800 872 111
US Embassy in Wellington (recorded info): 04 472 2068
It left online detectives wondering: Were they still together?