Pakistan: Osama May Be a Terrorist, Not Taliban

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

Monday October 15 9:18 AM ET (via Reuters)

Pakistan Says Afghan Taliban Not Terrorists

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan said Monday it did not
regard Afghanistan's ruling Taliban as terrorists and wanted to see a
short war waged by the United States in its hunt for Saudi-born
fugitive Osama bin Laden hiding there.

The duration of the current U.S.-led military strikes on Afghanistan
would be discussed with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was due
to arrive in Islamabad later in the day, a Foreign Ministry spokesman
told a news conference.

Asked if Pakistan considered the Taliban to be terrorists, spokesman
Riaz Mohammad Khan said: `No, Taliban are not terrorists. We never
regarded them as terrorists.''

He said he hoped the war against bin Laden and his Taliban protectors
would be short.

`Prolongation of military operations will be a source of concern to
us,'' the spokesman said.

`Because with prolongation you can expect mishaps in which innocent
civilian lives can be lost,'' he said, adding that this would be
discussed when Powell meets Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and
Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.

`I am sure they will be very detailed meetings,'' he added.

Khan said Pakistan had been grieved by civilian casualties caused by
military strikes on Afghanistan and had noted American regrets over
such deaths.

`We will again emphasize that the targets should be clearly focused
to avoid civilian casualties,'' he said.

Khan said Pakistan desired that the military operations in
Afghanistan `should be short and should not prolong beyond what is
necessary.''

But he said it was for America to determine what the necessary limit
was for such operations.

INTERVIEW DENIED

Khan denied that President Musharraf had said in an interview
published in the United States Monday that he would advise Washington
first to `take out'' Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar before
turning its attentions to bin Laden.

`The president had not granted any such interview,'' he said, adding
that `no such comments were made.''

`Get Mullah Omar and Osama won't be able to operate. He'll be on the
run,'' Musharraf was quoted as telling USA Today and CBS radio in a
joint interview.

`You must take out the center of gravity,'' Musharraf was quoted as
saying of the Taliban's spiritual leader. `That's what I would do if
I were running this campaign.''

An executive editor at CBS radio news in New York said the station
stood by its report.

`It wasn't a formal interview but it was on the record. It lasted
about an hour,'' Mike Donahue told Reuters.

USA Today also stood by the interview.

`We stand by our story, and the interview took place,'' said USA
Today World Editor Elisa Tinsley. She said USA Today had a photograph
of reporter Jack Kelley with Musharraf that was taken Friday, the day
of the interview.

Musharraf, whose country is the only nation that still has diplomatic
links with the Taliban, has walked a delicate line between support
for the U.S.-led military campaign against terrorism and opposition
at home to attacks on a fellow Muslim neighbor.

 
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