Taliban denies Osama's involvement

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 14. Striking a tough posture against any possible retaliation by the U.S., the Taliban today not only denied the involvement of Osama bin Laden in the attacks in the U.S. on Tuesday but also maintained that it would take revenge in the event of strikes against Afghanistan.

The Taliban Ambassador in Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, released a three-paragraph statement issued by the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, at a crowded news conference here giving a ``clean chit'' to Osama.

The burden of the statement, the first by Mullah Omar since the horrific incidents, sought to argue that it was unjust to link Osama with the attacks as he lacked the capacity to do so. ``The event itself is indicative of the acquittal of Osama because he has no pilots. Where did he train them? Training of pilots is the work of a running Government and only such Government has the capacity to do so. In Afghanistan, there is no possibility for the training,'' the statement said.

The defiant mood of the Taliban regime vis-a-vis Osama is bound to put the military Government in Pakistan in a spot. It is a clear indication that the time of reckoning has arrived for Islamabad. As the pressure from the U.S. and the rest of the world mounts, the Musharraf Government may be left with little option but to rethink about its closest ally, Taliban.

Mullah Omar has based his defence of Osama entirely on this argument and alleged that any effort to link the Saudi fugitive without justification to the incidents of Tuesday would be an ``international effort''. The statement did not deal with any other aspect related to the demands of the international community vis-a-vis Osama or the Taliban. It ended with an appeal that ``everyone should be wise enough to think (independently)''.

In response to questions by international media personnel who have descended on Islamabad in the last two days, the Ambassador reiterated the well-known position of Taliban on subjects such as the extradition of Osama or his alleged activities of exporting jehad. He ruled out the extradition of Osama unless conclusive evidence was provided on the charges against him.

Mullah Zaeef also denied reports that Osama was under house arrest. He, however, said the Taliban had restricted his contact with the outside world, making it difficult for him to run any kind of global network. Osama had no fax, Internet connection or satellite phones.

This has been the stated position of the Taliban for some time now. In the past, whenever the media published purported statements of Osama, this was the argument advanced by the Taliban.

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