Pull out from Gulf, Taliban tells U.S.

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 24 The Taliban supremo, Mullah Omar, today said the United States should withdraw its forces from the Gulf and support the cause of the Palestinians if it was serious in addressing the issue of terrorism.

In a brief statement issued from Kandahar, circulated here by the Taliban authorities, Mullah Omar asserted that elimination of Osama bin Laden would not help resolve the issue of international terrorism. ``If the Americans want to eliminate terrorism, they should withdraw their forces from the Gulf and put an end to the partial attitude on the issue of Palestine'', the statement said.

He alleged that ``America wants to eliminate Islam and they are spreading lawlessness to install a pro-American government in Afghanistan''.

The Taliban Ambassador in Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Saleem Zaeef, today once again maintained that so far the militia has not been able to deliver the message of the clerics asking Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan to the Saudi dissident.

He told a news conference that the militia has begun mobilisation of its people for a possible war.

In a separate statement, the Taliban has claimed that it was mobilising three lakh troops to help it ward off any threat. It said hundreds of thousands of volunteers were joining the efforts of the militia to fight a ``jehad'' in the event of an attack by the U.S. and its allies.

At a separate news conference, the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said it was up to the Taliban leadership to decide on the recommendation of the religious leaders urging it to encourage Osama to leave Afghanistan.

Taliban threat

AP reports:

The Taliban has threatened to execute any U.N. workers who use key equipment in their offices in Afghanistan, a move that has nearly shut down the remaining relief work being done in the country, U.N. officials said on Monday.

The militia began raiding U.N. offices in cities such as Kabul, the capital, and Kandahar, where Taliban leadership is based, over the weekend and sealing their satellite telephones, walkie- talkies, computers and vehicles to bar them from further use, Ms. Stephanie Bunker, chief U.N. spokeswoman, said here.

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