TALEBAN WARNS RUSSIA AGAINST ATTACKING AFGHANISTAN
ISLAMABAD 28TH May (IPS) The Taleban that rule over most of Afghanistan warned Sunday Russia that it will suffer a heavier blow than the one it faced when occupying Afghanistan and reiterated again there were no Chechen guerrillas training in this war torn country.
The warning was in response of repeated Russian claims that Chechen fighters have bases in Afghanistan, where they receive financial and military supports from the Taleban and the Saudi millionaire Osama Bin Laden, the most wanted man by the American Justice for the twin bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Pointing out that that the Taleban's backing for the Muslim Chechens who fights the Russians is "only political and moral", a Taleban Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the "Russians should learn their lesson from the past".
The Taleban have recognised Chechnya and allowed the secessionist Republic to open an embassy in Kabul and a consulate in southern Qandahar.
But Moscow says it has uncovered evidence of a pact between the Taleban and Mr. Bin Laden in helping the Chechen rebels and announced last week it's "readiness" to launch "preventive" air and land operation against Afghanistan.
The Taleban also warned the newly independent Central Asian Muslim nations bordering Afghanistan not to allow their airspace be used by Russian planes or they also would face retaliatory action from Kabul. "Any such a country would be considered the enemy of Afghanistan", the statement issued Sunday said.
"Uzbekistan will pay a heavy price if any attacks are carried out against Afghanistan, Taleban's supreme leader Molla Mohammad Omar had warned.
"There will be serious consequences for Uzbekistan and it will be made to pay a heavy price for aggression," the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Mr. Omar as saying in a statement from his base in Qandahar.
Russia is accusing the Taleban of sheltering and supporting rebels active in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which have become hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism and violence, as well as in Chechnya.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov had declared that terror acts and other actions which could damage the interest of Russia and its partners in Central Asia were being prepared on the territory of Afghanistan and assured that Moscow would act "according to how the situation develops".
Meanwhile visiting US Under-Secretary Thomas Pickering said Saturday that Washington believe that Pakistan can find ways to help America in capturing Osama Bin Laden.
"We hope, in fact, we can encourage in every conceivable way Pakistan to use all of its contacts and all of its relationships with the Taleban to make it clear to them that the U.S considers harbouring of Osama as something very unfriendly to American interests," Pickering told a group of reporters.
The situation in Afghanistan, the arrest of Mr. Bin Laden, the closing of training camps for Muslim terrorists and other Central Asian related problems would be discussed between President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Bill Clinton when they meet next month in Moscow.
"It is hard for me to conceive of the fact that Pakistan's continued support to the Taleban is irrelevant to the question of the possibility of Pakistan's playing a very constructive role in bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice," Mr. Pickering said.
He reiterated that the US attached urgent importance to finding ways to bring Osama bin Laden and number of his followers to justice.
Pakistani officials have said Bin Laden, fearing infiltration by U.S. intelligence, has replaced his Arab bodyguards in Afghanistan with Pakistanis and Bangladeshi militants.
They said bin Laden had recruited about three dozen Pakistanis and Bangladeshi militants belonging to Harakatul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri militant outfit itself accused of involvement in terrorism.
He made the changes after the arrest in Afghanistan last month of a Syrian and an Iraqi who had claimed that they were working for U.S. and Israeli intelligence, officials said.
Pickering and the Taleban discussed Bin Laden, alleged terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, narcotics production and Afghan peace talks, according to the AIP, the Peshawar-based news agency with close links to the Taleban reported.
It said Pickering asked the Taleban to implement UN. Security Council calls that Bin Laden be extradited to stand trial on charges of masterminding the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 200.
Informed Afghan and Pakistani sources said that the Taleban proposal involved putting Bin Laden under international monitors or the watch of officials from the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to prove he was not involved in terrorism. ENDS AFQANISTAN RUSSIA 28500