Taliban: We'll Talk if Bombing Stops
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writer
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) -- A top Taliban leader said Sunday that the Islamic militia would be ready to discuss handing over Osama bin Laden to a third country if the United States halts the bombing of Afghanistan.
Washington has rejected previous offers by the Taliban to negotiate, saying they must surrender him and his lieutenants in the al-Qaida terror network without conditions. In the past, the United States has refused any handover of bin Laden to a third party.
Deputy Prime Minister Haji Abdul Kabir, the third most powerful figure in the Taliban regime that rules the country, told reporters that the Taliban would require evidence that bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
If evidence of bin Laden's involvement was given and the bombing campaign is stopped, Kabir said, "we would be ready to hand him over to a third country," he added, one that would never "come under pressure from the United States."
Kabir urged the United States to halt the air campaign, now in its eighth day, and open negotiations.
"If America were to step back from the current policy, then we could negotiate," he said. "Then we could discuss which third country."
Before the start of the air campaign, the Taliban had demanded evidence of bin Laden's involvement in the attack and had offered to try him before an Islamic court inside Afghanistan -- proposals which the United States promptly rejected.
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