ehnyah
08-22-2005, 10:30 AM
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9890.htm
By Khalid Hasan
08/21/05 "Daily Times" -- -- Washington: During a meeting between an American diplomat and a Taliban official in 1998, the latter suggested that one way of dealing with Osama Bin Laden "would be for the US to kill him or arrange for Bin Laden to be assassinated".
This is one of the revelations found in US government documents released last week. The US diplomat who met Taliban official Wakil Ahmed, an aide to Mulla Omar, was Alan Eastham Jr, the No 2 man at the US embassy in Islamabad. More than one meeting took place between the two in November and December of 1998, three years before the 9/11 attacks.
In their meeting on December 19, Ahmed said to the American diplomat, referring to the bombing of American embassies in East Africa, "It is unbelievable that this small man did this to you". When Ahmed suggested that the US kill Bin Laden, he added that if Washington decided to go ahead and did it with a cruise missile or other means, the Taliban could do little to prevent it. He also suggested that the US could provide the Taliban with cruise missiles to have "the situation resolved in this way".
Expulsion of Bin Laden, it was feared by the Kabul man, would result in the Taliban regime being overthrown. Ahmed also "urged the US not to bomb Afghanistan again" as it had done after the East Africa embassy bombings. Ahmed "instead asked for a new US proposal aimed at resolving the matter," the documents said. Referring to the cruise missile attack on Afghanistan ordered by Clinton, Ahmed said, "If Kandahar could have retaliated with similar strikes against Washington, it would have. I consider you as murderers of Afghans. The US said Bin Laden had killed innocent people, but had not the US killed innocent Afghans in Khost too? Was this not a crime?"
An October 1998 State Department cable said the best way of getting Bin Laden would be through Saudi Arabia, which "maintains significant prestige in Pakistan and Afghanistan". It called an upcoming trip to Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah a "ready-made opportunity for the Saudis to press the Pakistani government to exert pressure on the Taliban concerning Bin Laden". The State Department advised, "The US should appeal to the natural trading mentality of many Afghans - and perhaps some Taliban - by setting out what the Taliban stand to gain by expelling Bin Laden as well as what they stand to lose".
However, there were no illusions in Washington as to the Taliban and how far they would be willing to go. One of the cables sent out from Washington said, "The fact is that the leader of the Taliban appears to be strongly committed to Bin Laden. It is questionable whether US or Saudi efforts can influence Omar's decisions".
When Eastham asked Ahmed why the Taliban would not hand over Bin Laden to Washington, he replied that the Afghan people "would not understand why the Taliban had expelled a man who was regarded as a "great mujahid" - during the war against the Soviets. They would reject the Taliban if the Taliban took this action". Eastham responded by telling Ahmed the Taliban had to recognise "that the role of political leadership is to shape public opinion, not to decline to act because they think opinion is otherwise".
After the meeting, it was clear to the Americans that the Taliban did not consider the Bin Laden matter resolved in the wake of the Afghan Supreme Court decision absolving Bin Laden of wrong doing.
Copyright: Daily Times - All Rights Reserved
By Khalid Hasan
08/21/05 "Daily Times" -- -- Washington: During a meeting between an American diplomat and a Taliban official in 1998, the latter suggested that one way of dealing with Osama Bin Laden "would be for the US to kill him or arrange for Bin Laden to be assassinated".
This is one of the revelations found in US government documents released last week. The US diplomat who met Taliban official Wakil Ahmed, an aide to Mulla Omar, was Alan Eastham Jr, the No 2 man at the US embassy in Islamabad. More than one meeting took place between the two in November and December of 1998, three years before the 9/11 attacks.
In their meeting on December 19, Ahmed said to the American diplomat, referring to the bombing of American embassies in East Africa, "It is unbelievable that this small man did this to you". When Ahmed suggested that the US kill Bin Laden, he added that if Washington decided to go ahead and did it with a cruise missile or other means, the Taliban could do little to prevent it. He also suggested that the US could provide the Taliban with cruise missiles to have "the situation resolved in this way".
Expulsion of Bin Laden, it was feared by the Kabul man, would result in the Taliban regime being overthrown. Ahmed also "urged the US not to bomb Afghanistan again" as it had done after the East Africa embassy bombings. Ahmed "instead asked for a new US proposal aimed at resolving the matter," the documents said. Referring to the cruise missile attack on Afghanistan ordered by Clinton, Ahmed said, "If Kandahar could have retaliated with similar strikes against Washington, it would have. I consider you as murderers of Afghans. The US said Bin Laden had killed innocent people, but had not the US killed innocent Afghans in Khost too? Was this not a crime?"
An October 1998 State Department cable said the best way of getting Bin Laden would be through Saudi Arabia, which "maintains significant prestige in Pakistan and Afghanistan". It called an upcoming trip to Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah a "ready-made opportunity for the Saudis to press the Pakistani government to exert pressure on the Taliban concerning Bin Laden". The State Department advised, "The US should appeal to the natural trading mentality of many Afghans - and perhaps some Taliban - by setting out what the Taliban stand to gain by expelling Bin Laden as well as what they stand to lose".
However, there were no illusions in Washington as to the Taliban and how far they would be willing to go. One of the cables sent out from Washington said, "The fact is that the leader of the Taliban appears to be strongly committed to Bin Laden. It is questionable whether US or Saudi efforts can influence Omar's decisions".
When Eastham asked Ahmed why the Taliban would not hand over Bin Laden to Washington, he replied that the Afghan people "would not understand why the Taliban had expelled a man who was regarded as a "great mujahid" - during the war against the Soviets. They would reject the Taliban if the Taliban took this action". Eastham responded by telling Ahmed the Taliban had to recognise "that the role of political leadership is to shape public opinion, not to decline to act because they think opinion is otherwise".
After the meeting, it was clear to the Americans that the Taliban did not consider the Bin Laden matter resolved in the wake of the Afghan Supreme Court decision absolving Bin Laden of wrong doing.
Copyright: Daily Times - All Rights Reserved