Taliban offer to put bin Laden on trial

The Taliban are prepared to put Osama bin Laden on trial.

They want the US to provide proof of his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan is understood to have told the Afghan Islamic Press that it would require concrete evidence. It would then find an "Islamic way" of putting bin Laden on trial.

Abdul Salam Zaeef said they would never do anything to hurt its Islamic or Afghan pride.

He again urged America to negotiate rather than take military action.

The announcement comes as an Arab TV station broadcast what it said are the most recent images of bin Laden.

The footage shows him sombre and composed amid a celebration by his followers.

Excerpts, aired on Qatar's Al-Jazeera television, show bin Laden flanked by top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri and other chief aides.

Al-Jazeera said the scene was believed to show a celebration of the union of bin Laden's al-Qaida network and al-Zawahri's Egyptian Jihad group.

There was no word of any statement by bin Laden or others on the tape. The station did not say whether the images were taken before or after the September 11 attacks on the United States.