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Militia says it needs proof of bin Laden's guilt
By GREGG JONES / The Dallas Morning News
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia on Friday defiantly rejected President Bush's speech-delivered ultimatum to surrender Osama bin Laden, setting the stage for what a Taliban leader called a "showdown of might."
The Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, said his government will not hand over Mr. bin Laden without proof that he was involved in last week's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The rebuff came just hours after President Bush warned the radical Islamic Taliban to turn over Mr. bin Laden and his lieutenants or "share their fate." U.S. officials describe Mr. bin Laden, a Saudi-born Islamic militant, as the mastermind behind the attacks.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of militant Islamic protesters poured into the streets across Pakistan on Friday, vowing a holy war against the United States as Afghanistan braced for U.S. military strikes.
The protesters burned effigies of President Bush, screamed slogans like "Crush America and Bush" and denounced Pakistan's military ruler for pledging "full cooperation" with the Bush administration's declared war on terrorism. In the southern port city of Karachi, at least one person was killed in clashes pitting protesters against riot police and shop owners who refused to honor a general strike called by the militants.
While the demonstrators were the largest yet in the week since Gen. Pervez Musharraf pledged Pakistan's support for the Bush administration campaign, the government was still firmly in control, analysts said.
"I'm really surprised by the smallness of the numbers," said Rifaat Hussain, chairman of the department of defense and strategic studies at Quaid-I-Azam University in Islamabad. "Even if you add up all the numbers in the country, 100,000 protesters out of a population of 145 million is nothing."
But if the United States does take military action against the Taliban and launches a ground operation to capture Mr. bin Laden, the demonstrations will undoubtedly grow in size and intensity, he said.
"How strong or how voluminous will be a function of what the Americans actually end up doing," Dr. Hussain said. "If the American response is limited to Afghanistan, I don't think [the Pakistani reaction] will be that serious."
Militant Islamic groups vowed to escalate their campaign against the United States and Gen. Musharraf. They called for a student strike that would begin on Saturday.
Leaders criticized
The Peshawar protests began in the morning and continued after Friday afternoon prayers. "Bush is a dog! Musharraf is also a dog! Fight American and Russian evil! The only superpower is Allah!" the protesters shouted as they wound through the narrow streets of the old city."We are not angry," said Jalal Sabar, 28, a local businessman. "We just want to ask the United States, why you are against Islamic countries? Please prove that Osama bin Laden committed this attack and arrest him, and we will be at your side. But without proof, we would be against you."
Mr. bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization are described by U.S. officials as the leading suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks. Since giving Mr. bin Laden safe haven in Afghanistan in 1996, the Taliban has suffered two rounds of U.N. sanctions for refusing to surrender its infamous guest.
Even now, in the face of potentially crippling U.S. military attacks, the Taliban is giving no hints of softening its stance. A meeting of leading Afghan clerics on Thursday asked Mr. bin Laden to voluntarily leave Afghanistan for a third country to stave off the expected U.S. attacks, but the Bush administration quickly rejected the proposal.
In a speech before a joint session of Congress later Thursday, Mr. Bush asked Americans to prepare for a long "war on terrorism." He also warned the Taliban to hand over Mr. bin Laden and shut down his al-Qaeda training camps or "be regarded as a hostile regime."
Kabul exodus
As the United States continued its deployment of warplanes and aircraft carrier groups to the Middle East and Indian Ocean, thousands of Afghans continued to flee the capital of Kabul in anticipation of U.S. attacks."This city weeps," merchant Dil Agha, who stayed behind, told The Associated Press. "We are blamed for whatever happens in the world. I wonder how many sins we have committed that God won't listen to our prayers anymore."
Heavy fighting was reported in northern Afghanistan, where the opposition Northern Alliance is stepping up its war against Taliban rule.
In rejecting the Bush administration's ultimatum on Friday, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan again repeated his government's calls for proof of Mr. bin Laden's involvement in the U.S. attacks.
"Our position on this is that if America has proof, we are ready for the trial of Osama bin Laden in light of the evidence," said Mr. Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. "We are ready to cooperate if we are shown evidence."
The Taliban official expressed sorrow for the victims of the U.S. attacks while appealing to the United States to avoid attacks that could kill innocent Afghans.
The threat of U.S. attacks "has angered Muslims of the world and can plunge the whole region into a crisis," he said.
"It will then be a showdown of might," Mr. Zaeef said. "If they want to show their might, we are ready, and we will never surrender before might and force."