Clerics meet to discuss future of bin Laden

Hundreds of Islamic clerics met in the rocket-damaged Presidential Palace in Kabul today to decide whether to extradite terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden or to declare a holy war against the United States if its forces attack Afghanistan.

Dozens of Taliban soldiers armed with rocket-launchers and Kalashnikov rifles stood guard outside the giant cement walls that surround the palace, lined with gaping holes from years of fighting in Kabul, the capital.