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OSAMA BIN LADEN SPEAKS

September 24, 2001

OSAMA BIN LADEN URGES HOLY WAR
By Thomas Wagner

"I announce to you the good news my loved brothers that we are steadfast on the path of Jihad for the sake of Allah, following the example of the Prophet..."

Associated Press, 24 September, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Osama bin Laden called on Muslims to join a holy war against "the American crusade," and the United Nations said Monday that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia have virtually shut down its humanitarian operations by threatening to kill its remaining staff.

In a statement provided Monday to Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel, bin Laden - the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in Washington and New York - said: "We are steadfast on the path of jihad (holy war) with the heroic, faithful Afghan people."

Bin Laden also expressed sorrow for the deaths of pro-Taliban Pakistanis killed for protesting "the aggression of the American crusade forces and their allies on Muslim lands in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

He called them martyrs in the statement, which the TV station said was signed by bin Laden and dated Sunday.

In other developments, the Taliban's leader said Monday that the United States should withdraw its forces from the Persian Gulf and end its "bias" against Palestinians if it wants to eliminate the threat of global terrorism.

The United States is gearing up for military strikes on Afghanistan because of the Taliban's refusal to hand over bin Laden and his lieutenants. Bin Laden has used Afghanistan as headquarters of his Al-Qaida terrorist network since 1996.

Faced with the prospect of attack, the Taliban said they were dispatching 300,000 fighters to defend Afghanistan's borders - even as fighting stepped up in the north of the country with a coalition of opposition forces.

Despite the threat, the Taliban were defiant. In a statement faxed to news agencies here, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar said eliminating bin Laden would do little to remove the threat of more terrorism against the United States.

"If Americans want to eliminate terrorism, then they should withdraw their forces from the Gulf and they should put an end to the biased attitude on the issue of Palestine," Omar said from his headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

"America wants to eliminate Islam, and they are spreading lawlessness to install a pro-American government in Afghanistan," Mullah Omar said. "This effort will not solve the problem, and the Americans will burn themselves if they indulge in this kind of activity."

The Taliban also have cracked down on the remaining U.N. relief workers in Afghanistan, threatening to kill staff members who use computers or other communications equipment, U.N. officials in Islamabad said Monday.

The militia began raiding U.N. offices in Afghan cities over the weekend and sealing their satellite telephones, walkie-talkies, computers and vehicles to bar them from further use, said Stephanie Bunker, the chief U.N. spokeswoman in Islamabad.

"They warned our staff that if they use these things, they will face execution," said Gordon Weiss, spokesman for UNICEF.

The threats have nearly shut down the relief work being done by Afghan staffers who were left behind when all foreign U.N. workers were withdrawn from Afghanistan as a safety precaution.

"The U.N. has ordered its staff to obey the Taliban directive to avoid risking their lives," Bunker said in an interview Monday. "This will have a very serious impact on our operations."

With tensions mounting, Pakistan pulled its 12 diplomats from its embassy in Kabul, the Afghan capital, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Riaz Khan said. However, relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have not been severed, and a Taliban embassy remained in operation in Islamabad.

Over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates broke diplomatic relations with the Taliban, leaving Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as the only countries maintaining formal ties.

Pakistan has agreed to support the U.S. military campaign against bin Laden and his Taliban allies. A Pentagon team is in Pakistan to discuss details of Pakistani cooperation in any future campaign.

In northern Afghanistan, meanwhile, heavy exchanges of artillery fire were reported overnight and early Monday in the Panjshir Valley and in Balkh province between the Taliban and opposition forces, who control about 5 percent of the country.

The opposition has offered to cooperate with the United States in trying to drive the Taliban from power.

TEXT OF STATEMENT FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN

[Associated Press, Monday 24 September - DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Here is the text of Osama bin Laden's statement as provided on Monday by the Al-Jazeera television news network, based in Qatar. It was translated from Arabic by The Associated Press. Some sections of the faxed statement were illegible.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Sunday, 6 Rajab 1422 (Sept. 23, 2001)

And for martyrs from their God their reward and light

To our Muslim brothers in Pakistan

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and his blessings;

I received with great sorrow the news of the murder of some of our Muslim brothers in Karachi while they were expressing their opposition to the American crusade forces and their allies on the lands of Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We ask Allah to accept them as martyrs and include them with prophets, their followers, martyrs, good doers and the like and ask that their families be gifted with patience and consolation, and bless their children and money, and reward well for their Islam.

Whoever of them left children behind, they are my children, and I am their caretaker, Allah willing.

It is no wonder that the Muslim nation in Pakistan would rush to defend its Islam, since it is considered the first line of defense for Islam in this area, just like Afghanistan was the first line of defense for itself and for Pakistan before the Russian invasion more than 20 years ago.

We hope that these brothers are among the first martyrs in Islam's battle in this era against the new Christian-Jewish crusade led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the Cross; this battle is considered one of Islam's battles ...(text illegible)

We incite our Muslim brothers in Pakistan to give everything they own and are capable of to push the American crusade forces from invading Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him, said: Whoever didn't fight, or prepare a fighter, or take good care of a fighter's family, Allah will strike him with a catastrophe before Judgment Day.

I announce to you the good news my loved brothers that we are steadfast on the path of Jihad for the sake of Allah, following the example of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), with the heroic, faithful Afghan people, under the leadership of our fighter emir, who is proud of his religion, the prince of the faithful, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

We ask Allah to make him victorious over the forces of infidels and tyranny, and to crush the new Christian-Jewish crusade on the land of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If Allah makes you victorious, none will defeat you and if He fails you, who after Him will make you victorious and on Allah the faithful shall trust.

Your brother in Islam Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden

BIN LADEN HAS LEFT AFGHANISTAN, MAYBE HEADING TO SOMALIA OR SUDAN

Bin Laden quietly left Afghanistan for an undisclosed location earlier this week, fearing an imminent U.S. attack Islamabad (MENO) - 23 September: Reports have surfaced in the last couple of days that Bin Laden has left Afghanistan to an unknown location. Middle East News Online sources in Pakistan reported that unconfirmed details about his exodus from the country will lead him to either Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia or in the remote mountainous region of Chechnya On Friday, a Pakistani newspaper reported that bin Laden quietly left Afghanistan for an undisclosed location earlier this week, fearing an imminent U.S. attack.

Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel did not confirm these reports, stating: "I have not heard any report that he has left Afghanistan." Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel said earlier he was unaware of bin Laden having left Afghanistan before or after an Islamic clerics' resolution that he be asked to do so.

"I have not heard any report that he has left Afghanistan," the minister told AFP.

A spokesman for the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said earlier he had no idea whether the Saudi-born militant was still in the country.

The report in Pakistan's daily 'The News' quoted Taliban sources in Pakistan as saying that bin Laden departed Afghanistan on Monday, before the meeting of Islamic clerics in Kabul. "Osama has left Afghanistan four days ago and is no longer in the country," the sources said.

The paper, however, admitted that it could not confirm its report from the Taliban leadership but said that informed sources among the Taliban ranks did not deny his departure.

On Thursday, the Islamic clerics urged bin Laden to voluntarily leave the country, Taliban leaders have refused to force him out.

Another Pakistani daily "Dawn", reported last week that Osama took an oath of allegiance from 500 of his Arab supporters in Kabul before shifting to some undisclosed destination. He supposedly left Afghanistan on horseback, surrounded by his bodyguards.

A senior Taliban official said on Friday that Osama bin Laden will never be handed over to the United States.

Press reports quote the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, as saying, "This is not possible. There is no change in our stand toward Osama bin Laden. Handing him over to the United States or forcing him out of the Afghanistan is an insult to Islam and Sharia."
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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/9/406.htm