Blair: 'Surrender the terrorists or face consequences'

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has delivered a stark warning to the Taliban regime at today's Labour Party Conference in Brighton.

The Prime Minister said the Taliban regime had no ‘‘moral inhibition’’ on slaughtering innocent people and added: ‘‘There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror.

‘‘There is just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it and defeat it we must.

‘‘Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of Bin Laden.

‘‘As for the Taliban, they can surrender the terrorists or face the consequences and again in any action the aim will be to eliminate their military hardware, cut off their finances, disrupt their supplies, target their troops, not civilians.’’

Mr Blair added: ‘‘I say to the Taliban surrender the terrorists or surrender power. It’s your choice.

‘‘We will take action at every level, national and international, in the United Nations, in G8, in the EU, in Nato, in every regional grouping in the world, to strike at international terrorism wherever it exists.’’

Mr Blair spoke movingly of the suicide hijackings on September 11, saying the events of that day were ‘‘without parallel in the bloody history of terrorism’’.

He went on: ‘‘Within a few hours, up to 7,000 people were annihilated, the commercial centre of New York was reduced to rubble and in Washington and Pennsylvania further death and horror on an unimaginable scale.

‘‘Let no one say this was a blow for Islam when the blood of innocent Muslims was shed along with those of the Christian, Jewish and other faiths around the world.’’

Mr Blair told delegates: ‘‘We know those responsible. In Afghanistan are scores of training camps for the export of terror.

‘‘Chief amongst the sponsors and organisers is Osama bin Laden.

‘‘He is supported, shielded and given succour by the Taliban regime.

‘‘Two days before the September 11 attacks, Masood, the leader of the opposition Northern Alliance, was assassinated by two suicide bombers.

‘‘Both were linked to Bin Laden.

‘‘Some may call that coincidence. I call it payment payment in the currency these people deal in: Blood.’’

Mr Blair, in one of the most sombre speeches ever delivered to a Labour Party conference went on: ‘‘Be in no doubt: bin Laden and his people organised this atrocity. The Taliban aid and abet him. He will not desist from further acts of terror. They will not stop helping him.’’

The Prime Minister said the events of September 11 were bringing Governments and people around the world together to realise: ‘‘How fragile are our frontiers in the face of the world’s new challenges.

‘‘Today, conflicts rarely stay within national boundaries.’’

Mr Blair said the action taken by Nato allies in Kosovo, and by British forces in Sierra Leone were examples of how nations could work together.

But he conceded: ‘‘It’s only a start.’’

He said: ‘‘With every bit as much thought and planning, we will assemble a humanitarian coalition alongside the military coalition so that inside and outside Afghanistan, the refugees - figures of 4.5 million on the move even before September 11 - are given shelter, food and help during the winter months.

‘‘The world community must show as much its capacity for compassion as for force.’’