Taliban leader defends bin Laden

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers today rejected the U.S. claim that alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden was the prime suspect in Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

"It is not possible for Osama bin Laden to do so. He is a victim of his

own reputation," declared Supreme Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Described as "a hardening of position" by Western diplomats based in the

Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Mullah Omar's statement indicates his

willingness to resist U.S. efforts to bring bin Laden to justice.

Bin Laden has been hiding in Afghanistan since 1996 when U.S. pressure

forced him to leave his refuge in Sudan. Mullah Omar and his colleagues have

resisted all external pressure to expel the Saudi dissident, suspected of

carrying out several attacks on U.S. installations around the world.

Bin Laden is also the chief suspect in the 1998 bombings of two U.S.

embassies in East Africa that killed more than 220 people.

U.S. sponsored tough U.N. sanctions against the Taliban rulers last year

after they refused to extradite bin Laden to face charges for his alleged

involvement in the 1998 bombings.

The U.S. administration, however, made it clear that it will not let him

hide in Afghanistan anymore after initial investigations showed that he was

also involved in Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

In a message read out by his ambassador in Pakistan, the Taliban leader

urged the United States to "capture those responsible for the attacks"

rather than concentrating on bin Laden."

His new position also places Pakistan in a difficult position. One of the

only three countries to have recognized the Taliban regime as the legitimate

Afghan government, Pakistan has maintained close contacts with the Taliban

leaders ever since they first appeared on the scene in 1994.

Pakistan came under tremendous external pressure to abandon its Taliban

allies after the 1998 bombings as well.

But after this week's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,

the United States asked Pakistan to decide on whose side it was: the Taliban

or the rest of the world.

The new pressure forced Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to declare

Thursday that he was with the United States in its fight against terrorism.

But the toughening of attitudes in Washington and other world capitals

appears to have had little impact on Taliban's supreme leader.

"We have no planes, no pilots in Afghanistan. It is not possible for bin

Laden to carry out such an attack from Afghanistan," said Omar. "He has

no fax, no telephone, no computers."

He said the Taliban Government "strongly condemns this act of terrorism

but also urges the United States to capture the real culprits and not be

misled by bin Laden's reputation."