PURSUING BIN LADEN

	September 18, 2001
	Julian Manyon of International Television News reports on the pursuit of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

JIM LEHRER: Here's an update on the efforts to get terrorist leader bin Laden out of Afghanistan. Julian Manyon of Independent Television News reports from Pakistan. JULIAN MANYON: The Taliban have given no clear answer to the demand that they surrender Osama bin Laden. In talks with the Pakistani delegation sent by President Musharraf, they apparently mentioned conditions under which they might consider handing him over, but there has been no agreement and today a Taliban leader again warned the Afghan population to prepare for a possible holy war. The conditions which might or might not be attached to Osama bin Laden's head, are first that he should be handed over for trial in a neutral country-- not the United States-- and second, that the Taliban regime should receive international recognition. But the chances of a deal on those lines still seem remote, and Pakistani officials are warning that efforts may fail. GEN. RASHID KURASHI: There's a misperception in the West that Pakistan exercises total control over the Afghan government or Afghanistan; it's not true. We do sort of engage them. We try to convince them of world concerns. It's not always that they listen. JULIAN MANYON: The Taliban are preparing for war. Their army, which is still battling the opposition in the North, is apparently dispersing its units to areas where they might be safer from attack. The call has gone out to young men to leave their religious colleges and join the Mujahedeen. But many ordinary Afghans are still trying to flee. People are leaving the capital, Kabul, and flooding towards the Pakistani border. RIDAZ MUHAMMED KHAN: Hundreds and thousands of Afghans are leaving cities and heading towards Pakistan. JULIAN MANYON: These were some of the last to get across. Pakistan has now ordered its troops and police to seal the border areas. The Taliban still say that a grand council of clerics should decide Osama bin Laden's fate. And that council is now due to start its work tomorrow. Some 700 Muslim priests are expected to attend and any decision could take several days.

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