Taliban Deploy 300,000

KABUL, Tuesday - Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban Monday began mobilising in earnest for a possible attack by the massed military forces of the US and warned Washington that its war with terrorism would have no end. As the build-up of US forces in the region accelerated, the Islamic militia’s defence minister, Mullah Obaidullah, said in a statement that 300,000 Afghans “experienced in jihad” or holy war, had been deployed in the capital, along the borders and “other important sites.” “We have instructed the whole mujahed nation to prepare themselves for jihad and wage holy war at any time they think is necessary,” Obaidullah said. The move came as the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, warned that terrorism would continue as long as US troops remained in the Gulf region, home to Islam’s holiest places, and as long as Washington sided with Israel against the Palestinians. “The United States should not harbour any misunderstanding. It cannot come out of the current crisis if it kills me or Osama (bin Laden),” Omar said in a statement. “If America wants to end terrorism it should withdraw its forces from the Gulf and end its partiality on the Palestine issue.” US forces have been massing in the region for days to back up Washington’s ultimatum for the Taliban to hand over bin Laden — the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The Taliban claims it has decided to ask him to leave the country but insisted again Monday that it could not find him to deliver the request. “I do not know exactly where he is,” the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, told a press conference in Islamabad. “There is an effort to locate him. He may be in Afghanistan and he may be hiding.” The US has dismissed the Taliban’s claim and reiterated its demands for the closure of alleged terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and the immediate, unconditional handover of bin Laden. There has been speculation that bin Laden may already have slipped out of Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that Washington would soon present proof to the world that bin Laden and his organisation al-Qaeda, or The Base, were behind the attacks. The US military build up has apparently emboldened the Afghan opposition which has launched a series of major offensives against Taliban-held positions in recent days. A Taliban spokesman confirmed to the Afghan Islamic Press agency on Monday that opposition forces had captured Zaare district in Balkh province, giving them partial control of a key highway linking three northern provinces. The US ambassador in Islamabad confirmed Monday that a team of US defence officials had arrived on a mission to firm up Islamabad’s offer of cooperation with military action against Afghanistan. Although Pakistan President General Perves Musharraf has pledged unstinted cooperation with the US war on terrorism, the US is increasingly looking as if its main attack could come from the north. US military aircraft arrived in Uzbekistan at the weekend. Signs Uzbekistan could help the US brought an angry response from the Taliban and warned Uzbekistan to act wisely. AFP Ends