(CNN) – The U.S. government asked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to expel or hand over Osama bin Laden more than two dozen times between September 1996 and summer 2001, according to a recently declassified State Department cable. Three of those attempts were made after the Bush administration came into office in late January 2001. Despite the various efforts, “these talks have been fruitless,” the cable said. The cable was written in July 2001 and was obtained recently by the National Security Archive at George Washington University through the Freedom of Information Act. The National Security Archive posted the document to its Web site Friday. Sajit Gandhi, research associate at the NSA, said there are indications that the Taliban were approached more than 30 times during the time period. The Taliban religious militia ruled much of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until a coalition of U.S. and allied forces drove them from power in November 2001. The Taliban had given haven to al Qaeda before the attacks of September 11 2001. Remnants of the group remain active, and bin Laden is still at large. The State Department held its first meeting with a Taliban official September 18, 1996, when the political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, asked that bin Laden be made “unwelcome” in Afghanistan.
According to the document, the U.S. official was told by the Afghani deputy foreign affairs adviser that “the Taliban do not support terrorism and would not provide refuge to bin Laden.”
Gandhi said he was particularly struck by a U.S. request in early 1997 that it be allowed to visit “militant training camps in eastern Afghanistan,” and that a Taliban official initially agreed. But the Afghan government kept delaying the visit and finally rescinded the offer in April. The cable recounts, in chronological order, a series of attempts to get bin Laden out of Afghanistan that continued before and after the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998, which the United States linked to al Qaeda. The U.S. government warned the Taliban, for example, in September 1998, that they would be held accountable for any future terrorist actions by bin Laden. The Taliban offered a series of responses, most of which were made public at the time. First, the Afghan government told the United States that to oust bin Laden “would violate Taliban rules of hospitality,” then later said they would put bin Laden on trial. However, the Taliban rejected the evidence linking bin Laden to the embassy bombings. At one point, a Taliban spokesman also told a U.S. official that his government could not expel bin Laden because it “would result in the downfall of the Taliban.” The Bush administration continued the warnings, with contacts February 8, March 19 and July 2, 2001. In the last communication, the Taliban deputy foreign minister told the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan that bin Laden had not been convicted and that officials of his government “still consider him innocent.”
they also repeatedly asked pakistan to help pressure the Taliban to cough him up, to which the Musharaf gov't said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "go talk to them"
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Stu: *
they also repeatedly asked pakistan to help pressure the Taliban to cough him up, to which the Musharaf gov't said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "go talk to them"
[/QUOTE]
Stu and in your opinion, was there anything wrong with the reply from the Pakistani administration?
[QUOTE]
The Taliban offerred to hand him over way back then, if they were given proof. That was the choice of the retarded bush administration.
[/QUOTE]
Try again music man, it was pre-Bush admin, and the Taliban said they would consider expeling him to a muslim nation who would try him under shariah laws.
[QUOTE]
Stu and in your opinion, was there anything wrong with the reply from the Pakistani administration?
[/QUOTE]
No, I was just pointing out that the US was pursuing multiple avenues to get the SOB
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Fret Wizard: *
The Taliban offerred to hand him over way back then, if they were given proof. That was the choice of the retarded bush administration.
[/QUOTE]
Proof like you mean Iraq and WMD... Yep that sure would have been lot of proof only proof and nothing but the proof.
so taleban were laaton kay bhoot..jo baaton say naheen manaay.
(rough translation for non urdu speakers for this figure of speech..taleban were the bhoots (ghouls) who respond to kicks, not to words)
It is the demand of Afghanistan that Bush be expelled and handed over to Afghanistan for war crimes committed against the Afghans...There he will be tried and sentenced according to the laws of Afghanistan.
Failure to do so might result in force being taken.
This is just a verbal warning, failure to do so would result in force being used.
Mark my words, when (not if) they capture Bin Laden, then American's will be the first one's to allow the Taliban to get back into power in Afghanistan, in one form or another.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Malik73: *
Mark my words, when (not if) they capture Bin Laden, then American's will be the first one's to allow the Taliban to get back into power in Afghanistan, in one form or another.
[/QUOTE]
Malik ji, you are absolutely right, its just a matter of time...
Malik ji, you are absolutely right, its just a matter of time...
[/QUOTE]
Yes, and then the same people who have been condemning the Taliban and supporting the NA thugs will have switch their loyalties. After being proven wrong so over Iraq and WMD, we are all used to such u-turns. :)
