Hello.
Yes, you are correct. In the immediate days following 9/11/2001,
Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, indicated that
the Taliban might turn over Osama bin Laden to the U.S. if presented
with evidence of his guilt. He also suggested that a Taliban trial of
OBL was possible.
See:
"Osama will not be extradited without evidence: Taliban"
The Hindu (India's National Newspaper), Thursday, September 13, 2001
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/13/stories/0313000b.htm
CBS News, September 23, 2001:
"Taliban Won't Turn Over Bin Laden"
"...Our position on this is that if America has proof, we are ready
for the trial of Osama bin Laden in light of the evidence."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/11/world/main310852.shtml
'Asked whether the Taliban would allow a trial of Bin Laden in another
country, he said: "We are willing to talk about that, but the first is
that we must be given the evidence."
The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Mullah Zaeff as saying: "If
America is not satisfied with our trial of Osama, we are also ready to
find another Islamic way of trying him."'
source: "The Guardian, Taliban 'will try Bin Laden if US provides evidence'"
Friday October 5, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,563965,00.html
Here's one that include Bush's response:
'The United States has turned down Taliban offers to negotiate. Bush
repeated that stance Tuesday. "I have said that the Taliban must turn
over the al-Qaida organization living in Afghanistan and must destroy
the terrorist camps. They must do so, otherwise there will be a
consequence," he said. "There are no negotiations. There is no
calendar."'
source: CourtTV, Oct. 2, 2001, "Taliban still says: no proof, no bin Laden"
http://www.courttv.com/assault_on_america/1002_nobinladen_ap.html
By October 17, 2001, The Guardian was reporting that the Taliban was
offering a deal that didn't require evidence.
"For the first time, the Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laden for
trial in a country other than the US without asking to see evidence
first in return for a halt to the bombing, a source close to
Pakistan's military leadership said.
But US officials appear to have dismissed the proposal and are
instead hoping to engineer a split within the Taliban leadership.
The offer was brought by Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban
foreign minister and a man who is often regarded as a more moderate
figure in the regime."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,575593,00.html
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search strategy:
taliban "hand over Bin Laden" "september * 2001"
taliban "hand over Bin Laden" "october * 2001"
Zaeef evidence osama trial
I hope this helps. |
