Blair to meet with Pakistani president as U.S. allies consolidate support

By Amir Zia

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – After endorsing U.S. evidence against Osama bin Laden as overwhelming, British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed toward Pakistan on Friday as part of Western efforts to solidify Islamic backing for strikes on terrorists in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s government has already pledged commitment to the U.S. anti-terrorism coalition, and Blair’s planned in-and-out visit reflected the Islamic nation’s newfound international stature. From Islamabad, Blair was expected to fly on to India, Pakistan’s rival, Friday night.

On Thursday, Pakistan became the first Muslim country to say that U.S. evidence connects bin Laden to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. American officials presented evidence to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf earlier this week.

The United States suspects bin Laden, a Saudi exile, of orchestrating last month’s attacks and others against U.S. interests, including 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa and an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen last year.

Fresh video footage surfaced Friday showing bin Laden near dry, rugged mountains, somberly watching followers and flanked by his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, and other aides.

The images were broadcast on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television, often one of the first sources of material from bin Laden. The station said it believed the scene showed a celebration of the union of his al-Qaida terrorist network and al-Zawahri’s Egyptian Jihad group. Bin Laden made no statement, and it was unclear when the images were taken.

Bin Laden is said to be hiding in Afghanistan and running al-Qaida from there. The United States has told leaders of the country’s austere Taliban regime to turn him over or face the consequences.

The Taliban say they want proof before considering whether to hand over bin Laden, who has lived in the country since 1996.

“We have been demanding evidence,” the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said Thursday. “But it seems they are not willing to share whatever they have got.”

NATO announced this week that evidence of bin Laden’s involvement was persuasive, and Blair, during a speech Thursday in Britain, revealed details of the case. He said three hijackers have been “positively identified” as bin Laden associates and that bin Laden told others he was preparing a major operation in the United States.

There was no indication about exactly what Blair and Musharraf would discuss – or whether Blair carried any message for the Taliban. Pakistan was instrumental in the Taliban’s rise to power in 1996 and is the only country that still recognizes them as Afghanistan’s legitimate government.

After meeting with Musharraf, Blair departs for India for talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about terrorism, Indian diplomats in Pakistan said.

With Western powers already supportive, the United States has launched a diplomatic campaign to convince key Muslim states that the evidence is strong – and that any attack against the Taliban and bin Laden would not be a war against Islam or the Afghan people.

Inside Afghanistan, meanwhile, there were signs the Taliban were trying to bolster support. Regime officials have been meeting with local leaders across the country to drum up backing, especially among influential tribal figures.

During a meeting in eastern Khost province, Taliban officials threatened to burn the homes of anyone supporting former king Mohammad Zaher Shah, Taliban radio said Thursday night. The exiled monarch has been meeting in Rome with opposition leaders to discuss ways to set up a new government if the Taliban fall.

From London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sent words of support to Afghans Friday in a message broadcast in Pashtu and other regional languages by the British Broadcasting Corp.’s World Service.

“We have no quarrel with the people of Afghanistan,” Straw said in the broadcast, according to the British Foreign Office. “The Taliban regime harms Afghanistan and its people by protecting Osama bin Laden and his colleagues from justice.”

The United States, in its growing diplomatic campaign, is also underscoring its concern about Afghan civilians, many of them refugees, as winter approaches. President Bush on Thursday announced $320 million in humanitarian aid to the Afghan people “in a time of crisis and in a time of need.”

Funds will be used to provide aid delivered by the United Nations to Afghanistan and to camps in neighboring countries, which are expected to receive tens of thousands of refugees if the United States takes military action. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said the Pentagon plans to airdrop relief supplies into Afghanistan.

The World Food Program, meanwhile, started loading more than 100 tons of wheat flour donated by Britain. Logistics officer Tarbiz Khakbaz said the trucks would be sent into Afghanistan from northeastern Iran.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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