Taliban Says Bin Laden Whereabouts Known
Sept. 30 -- Afghanistan's government said today its agents know Osama bin Laden's location and he is under their control. U.S. officials responded by renewing their demand that the suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America be turned over immediately.
"The president has said we're not negotiating," Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, said on Fox News Sunday. "We've told the Taliban government what theyshould be doing. They've got to turn not only Osama bin Laden overbut all of the operatives of the al Qaeda organization [bin Laden's terrorist group]. They've got to stop being a haven where terrorists can train."
President Bush has named bin Laden, an Afghanistan-based Saudi exile, the "prime suspect" in Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, which left approximately 5,700 people dead or presumed dead.
A Taliban official, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said today the Taliban is willing to negotiate over bin Laden's surrender, if U.S. officials present evidence of his involvement in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"The position of the two countries is very different," Zaeefsaid. "They are thinking of direct attack. We are thinking ofnegotiation. They have provided no evidence but they want the man.But we say if they change and talk to us, and if they presentevidence, we will respect their negotiations and that might changethings.
"He's in Afghanistan. He is under our control," Zaeef added. " Wherever he is, he's in a secret place but that doesn't mean that he is out of the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He's in a place which cannot be located by anyone. … Only security people know where he is."
Western Skepticism
However, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld rejected the Taliban's statement, saying that he had no reason to believe them, especially given that they denied knowing bin Laden's whereabouts just last week. American officials have steadily maintained that it is within the Taliban's power to produce bin Laden.
