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Pakistani Clerics Cancel Visit to Taliban, Latest Signal of Shrinking Options for Afghan Leaders
Wednesday, October 03, 2001
(10:59 AM ET)
By Ted Anthony / The Associated Press

Pakistan, Afghanistan's eastern neighbor and the only country that still recognizes the rigorously Islamic Taliban leadership, is caught in a volatile situation.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- AP
Disheartened by an escalating crisis, Pakistani Muslim clerics said Wednesday they had canceled plans to visit the headquarters of Afghanistan's ruling militia, the latest signal that options may be running out for the Taliban.

Even as their isolation grew, though, Taliban leaders accused of sheltering terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden told the world -- in English -- that they were prepared to negotiate and didn't want war.

Leaders of four major pro-Taliban Islamic parties had planned to travel to the militia's headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar to meet leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, according to Ameerul Azeem, a spokesman for one of the parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami, or Islamic Party.

The trip was called off because the clerics simply saw no chance of a breakthrough, Azeem told The Associated Press by telephone from Lahore.
(More: New Jersey Online News Source)
Copyright 2001 Associated Press.

Dan