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Taliban Urges Afghans to Prepare for US Attacks
Taliban leaders Tuesday urged Afghan people to prepare for possible attacks by the United States, according to reports reaching here from the Afghan capital of Kabul.
The Taliban leaders called on the people to "stay united and prepare for a jihad (holy war) against U.S. invaders," Bakhtar News Agency, the Taliban official news agency, reported.
The leaders also dismissed the U.S. accusation of Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden as "baseless and a pretext to attack Afghanistan," the agency said.
"If America attacks our home, it is necessary for all Moslems , especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war," Mohammad Hssan Akhond, deputy chairman of the Taliban Council of Ministers, was quoted as saying in a radio speech on Monday.
However, a Taliban spokesman told Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that Akhond had not announced a jihad in the radio broadcast, but had only said the call would become compulsory if the United States attacked Afghanistan.
The United States has named bin Laden as the prime suspect in last Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and demanded that Taliban hand him over for trial on terrorist charges, or face retaliatory military strikes.
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