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Taliban Repeats Offer To Hand Over Osama Bin Laden
ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan 's ruling Taliban signaled Monday its willingness to hand over one of Washington's most wanted men, Osama bin Laden, to Saudi Arabia to face charges related to the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, a report stated Monday.
Quoting a "high-level" anonymous source, the Dawn daily said Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar offered his proposal to visiting Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider earlier this month.
"We never raised the Osama issue - it was raised by no less a person than Mulla Omar during the talks," the source stated. "Mulla Omar had proposed handing over of Osama to Saudi Arabia for trial."
Bin Laden lives in Afghanistan as a "guest" of the ruling Taliban, who have consistently refused to throw him out of the country despite U.N. aviation, political and diplomatic sanctions.
A correspondent in Islamabad reported that Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment on the Dawn article.
Earlier this month, the Taliban raised the expectation of a "fourth proposal" with the United States to resolve their dispute over bin Laden.
"We call upon the United States not to close the doors to understanding. We are considering to work out a fourth proposal on the issue of Osama bin Laden," Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel said.
"We are just prepared to consider it," he said, speaking from the southern city of Kandahar.
The Taliban have issued three proposals to resolve the dispute to try bin Laden in an Afghan court, to try him before a panel of Islamic clerics from overseas, or to keep him under the observation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Mutawakel said the latest proposal had not yet been ruled out and refused to give details. "We are just prepared to consider it," he said, speaking from the southern city of Kandahar.
The United States has ordered the Taliban to close its New York office in line with U.N. sanctions imposed last month aimed at punishing the Taliban rulers for refusing to hand over bin Laden.
A Muslim diplomat told Dawn on Sunday that the third Muslim country referred to by Mulla Omar could be the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He told the newspaper that the unscheduled visit of UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to Pakistan on Friday should be seen in the background of Mulla Omar's offer.
UAE is the only third country after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which recognizes the Taliban regime.
The diplomat said Pakistan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were jointly discussing the pros and cons of trying bin Laden in Saudi Arabia or in a third Muslim country, possiblt the UAE. "They are likely to request Washington to accept the new offer made by Mulla Omar," the diplomat added.
The diplomat, however, feared that Saudi Arabia or the UAE could ill-afford to hold Osama's trial as it could spark violence and destabilize the monarchies in these countries.
"There is a strong possibility that these countries would jointly approach the Taliban to hand over the 58-year-old bin Laden directly to some neutral western country like Switzerland, and hold a trial on the Saudi dissident on the pattern of the Lockerbie trial of two Libyans.
The source told Dawn that Mulla Omar's offer was a significant shift in policy for the Taliban, who had been adamantly refusing to extradite bin Laden, saying that there was no evidence available against him in order to hand him over to U.S. authorities.
The Afghan government had also announced that it would stand up to U.N. sanctions, saying that such curbs could not force it to change its policy.
The Taliban state that bin Laden is being closely watched and is not allowed to launch any operation from Afghanistan.
The trial of four alleged bin Laden associates, who have pleaded not guilty, has already begun in a Federal Court in New York. Of 18 others who have been indicted, one has pleaded guilty.
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