"With the help of Pakistan army and other foreign powers, Mr. Ben Laden has been able to establish rear-base terrorist installations in Afghanistan while expanding the wings of his organisation all over the world. I think that the Westerner have underestimated Mr. Ben Laden’s capabilities", said Mr. Mehraboddin Mastan, the Ambassador of the Islamic Government of Afghanistan in Paris.

Led by Borhaneddin Rabbani, this regime was ousted from Kabol in 1996 by the Pakistani-supported Islamic extremists known as Taleban.

He said Mr, Osama Ben Laden the prime suspect believed to be behind the horrifying terrorist operations on 11 September in New York and in Washington D. C. is hiding in Afghanistan. "As you know, Afghanistan is a mountainous country and Ben Laden has several hideouts there". Mr. Mastan observed.

He also confirmed that the late legendary war commander, Ahmad Shah Mas’ood was also assassinated by Mr. Ben Laden.

Two Arabs, posing as pseudo-journalists working for a pseudo Islamic information agency based in London and operated by the Egyptian Jema’at al Eslami, assassinated Mr. Mas’ood during an interview in his office in Khajeh Baha’oddin, by detonating a TV camera that Afghan experts said was filled with explosives by Pakistani experts.

According to Mr. Mastan, Jema’at al Eslam is the same that assassinated the late Egyptian president Mohammad Anwar Sadat and also organised the deadly shooting of foreign tourists in Luxor, Egypt.

"Without the massive and explicit assistance of the Pakistani secret services, government and army, these terrorist organisations, including that of Mr. Ben Laden could not grew to the dimensions and efficiency they have today", the Afghan diplomat said.

Warning both the United States and Europe against Pakistani leaders’ "doubl speak" concerning their role in Afghanistan, Mr. Mastan reminded in the interview that "only three days before the 11 September attacks on the United States, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister was pushing for the recognition of the Taleban regime by the international community.

"The Pakistan plays the role of the police and the thief at the same time", he said, adding that while Pakistan "smiles" to the West, some of its generals are still active enhancing Taleban’s war power.

Regretting that for seven years, the West did not paid attention to the plight of the Afghan people suffering under the Taleban, Mr. Mastan said if his countrymen are helped correctly, they could finish the Taleban by themselves and without any foreign presence.

Asked to comment on the role former Afghan King could play in the future of the war-torn nation, Mr. Mastan said Mohammad Zaher Shah enjoys a "great popularity" among Afghan people et could, if he would, play an important role in bringing various Afghan populations together.

Mr. Mastan welcomed the proposal put forward by the Iranian authorities for placing all international efforts against terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations, saying "considering that such a fight would be long and arduous, it is necessary that international co-operation be co-ordinated by the United Nations".

Iran is one of the main supporter of the former Afghan government better known as the Northern Alliance, that controls less than 10 per cent of the Afghan territory as against more than 90 per cent that is under the Taleban domination.