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Pakistan Says Afghan Taliban Not Terrorists
Monday, October 15, 2001
(9:25 AM ET)
Reuters

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.
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Dan