U.S. trying to pry bin Laden out of Afghanistan

bin Laden

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States is trying to tighten pressure on Afghanistan's ruling Taleban to evict Osama bin Laden, one of America's most wanted suspects, after past efforts failed to force him from his sanctuary.

Washington is working with Moscow to try to secure a fresh round of United Nations sanctions against the Taleban, perhaps including an arms embargo. The Taleban condemns this, saying increased sanctions would further impoverish the country.

"We're going to continue to increase the price that the Taleban pays for their continued harboring of bin Laden, their continued willingness to allow (his) al-Qaeda infrastructure to remain in place," a U.S. administration official said.

State Department officials, including counter-terrorism experts, met with the Taleban in Frankfurt, Germany, last month after a U.S. warship in Yemen was attacked by apparent suicide bombers suspected of having links to bin Laden.

Aviation and financial sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council against the Taleban last year have failed to force the expulsion of the Saudi-born anti-U.S. activist, who reportedly stays on the move in Afghan mountain hide-outs .

MESSAGE BOARD National security USS Cole attack

"We continue to work with the Russians and with the other members of the Security Council on ways to step up the pressure on the Taleban, not just to turn over bin Laden, but to shut down the terrorist camps," White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Thursday.

The United States has accused bin Laden of masterminding the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa where the death toll exceeded 220.

ATTACK ON WARSHIP COLE

The Oct. 12 attack on an American warship, the USS Cole, in Aden, which killed 17 sailors, also has U.S. investigators looking in the direction of bin Laden.

"It is more likely than not that people with links to him (bin Laden) were responsible for the attack. That's not a definitive judgment at this point, but more likely than not," a U.S. intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

Taleban and U.S. officials met secretly in Germany in late October, shortly after a small boat exploded alongside the Cole, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the destroyer.

U.S. officials described that meeting in Frankfurt as at the request of the Taleban, which was concerned about possible U.S. reprisals following the Cole attack.

Just days after the East Africa bombings, the United States launched cruise missiles at suspected "terrorist" camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan which it said had ties to bin Laden.

"I think they (Taleban) were nervous about the second round of sanctions; they knew they were percolating along. I think they also wanted to talk to us about possible retaliation for the Cole," the administration official said.

The Taleban sought to prevent any U.S. retaliation; the United States made no promises, the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We repeated our previous message that if al-Qaeda was found guilty of conducting a terrorist attack against us, the Taleban would be held responsible," he said, referring to bin Laden's group which means "The Base."

While speculation has persisted that the United States might launch another military attack once culpability was determined in the Cole attack, U.S. officials say that is just one option in an arsenal of potential retaliatory moves.

MILITARY "JUST ONE OPTION"

"There are lots of ways of deterring future threats and future attacks. the military is just one option," another U.S. official said.

U.S. officials describe other options as further diplomatic pressure, stemming financial flows that fund alleged "terrorist" activities, bringing people with ties to bin Laden to court, and covert operations to disrupt him.

Criticism that the proposed arms embargo would amount to the United States taking sides against the Taleban in the civil war raging in Afghanistan was unfounded, the U.S. official said. "The fact of the matter is it's the Taleban that are providing safe haven for bin laden's network, not the northern alliance," he said.

Given that the investigation into the Cole attack has not concluded, the decision on how to respond might end up in the hands of the new U.S. president, to be sworn in on Jan. 20, who will succeed President Clinton.

"If it does point back to bin Laden and al-Qaeda, then we're going to have some very serious decisions to make, and those decisions might be made in this administration; they may be made in the next administration," the U.S. official said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See related sites about US

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.