ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-Afghanistan's Taliban have ruled out any possibility of handing over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden to any country - including one that would try him under Islamic law, a Taliban official was quoted as saying Monday.
``Delivering Osama to a third country would just pave the way for the United States to arrest him and no one should expect the Afghan government to do this,'' the Nawa-e-Waqt newspaper quoted the Taliban's foreign ministry spokesman Faiz Ahmed Faiz as saying.
The Taliban were sanctioned by the United Nations in 1999 and again in January to press a demand that they hand over bin Laden for trial, either in the United States or a third country. The charge against the former Saudi businessman is terrorism.
On Washington's 10 Most-Wanted List, bin Laden is accused of masterminding the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in Africa that killed 224 people.
He has denied the charge and the Taliban, who have given him refuge, say the United States has not provided proof to substantiate their accusation.
Bin Laden also is the leading suspect in the suicide bombing last year of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.
There has been considerable speculation in recent months that the Taliban religious army that ruled 95 percent of Afghanistan may be willing to hand over bin Laden to a third country if he could be guaranteed a trial under Islamic law.
But according to the Nawa-e-Waqt newspaper, one of Pakistan's leading Urdu-language daily newspapers, there is no chance of that happening.
``Osama is a mujahed (holy warrior) who fought against the communists to help the Afghan nation,'' Faiz was quoted as saying, referring to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.
The Taliban spokesman also accused the western media of sensationalizing bin Laden and creating a monster of him.
``Osama is not such an important person as he as been portrayed by the West. He could not hurt anybody,'' said Faiz.
The U.N. sanctions have limited travel by Taliban officials, frozen their assets overseas as well as those of bin Laden. Sanctions also have seriously restricted the national airline, Ariana. It cannot make international flights and the U.N. sanctions committee has not allowed the airline to service those aircraft used for its domestic routes.
The Taliban have warned that the refusal to allow Afghanistan maintain its aircraft endangers the lives of thousands of civilians, who travel within the country on Ariana Airlines.
AP-NY-04-02-01 0441EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.