Clerics pressure bin Laden

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran

The Washington Post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Afghanistan’s top Islamic clerics recommended Thursday that the nation’s ruling Taliban militia persuade alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden to leave the country. But the United States swiftly rejected the move, repeating its demand that the Taliban surrender bin Laden or face possible military attack.

The clerics didn’t set a deadline for bin Laden to depart, saying he should be encouraged to leave "in the proper time and of his own free will." But the decision nevertheless was the first time Afghan leaders have distanced themselves from bin Laden, a longtime guest of the Taliban who has become the world’s most wanted man for his alleged role in last week’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials, however, called the clerics’ action insufficient. "It does not meet America’s requirements," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. He said bin Laden and other accused terrorists working with him and based in Afghanistan must be surrendered to "responsible authorities."

"We want action, not just statements," Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington. "The sooner he leaves and is brought to justice, the better off I think the world will be."

The clerics’ recommendation was conveyed to the top Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar, who will decide whether to pass the message on to bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi exile who has been hiding out in Afghanistan since 1996. Omar previously has said he would not extradite bin Laden. But at a news conference Thursday in Kabul, the Afghan capital, the Taliban’s education minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, said Omar "will act on the basis of the clerics’ guidance," Reuters reported.

Late Thursday, the Taliban reiterated that it wouldn’t force bin Laden to leave. In a statement issued by its embassy in Islamabad, the Taliban said that making him flee "would be an insult to Islam."

Muttaqi said the process of relocating bin Laden "must happen slowly."

"Osama has many enemies, and he must find an appropriate place to go," he said. "This is a big task, and it needs time."

The clerics also said they would formally call for a jihad, or a holy war, if U.S. forces attack targets in Afghanistan. "If a powerful country attacks a weak country, it is a jihad for all Muslims," the clerics said in a statement reported by the Taliban’s official Bakhtar news agency.

However, international experts said finding a nation that would accept bin Laden might prove impossible, given the U.S. response.

Dozens of U.S. warplanes were dispatched to the Persian Gulf area on Wednesday, and two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are operating in the region, with a third en route.

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