Pakistan said today it would consider playing a role in ending the deadlock over alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden if the US and Afghanistan's Taliban agreed on such mediation.
"If the two sides come up with an agreed role for Pakistan we would examine it, depending on the nature of what is suggested," foreign office spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan told reporters.
"At present there is no such role," he said, reiterating that bin Laden was "primarily an issue between Afghanistan and the United States."
Pakistan would like to see this problem resolved, he added.
The spokesman was commenting on Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel's statement yesterday that the Taliban regime was preparing a new proposal over the wealthy Saudi dissident, wanted in Washington.
Mutawakel, calling on the United States not to close doors to an understanding, said: "We are considering working out a fourth proposal on the issue of Osama bin Laden." His statement followed a US official's statement on Friday asking the Taliban to close its New York office in line with UN sanctions slapped last month after the militia refused to deliver bin Laden.
The Taliban had earlier demanded Washington provide solid evidence that bin Laden was linked to terrorist attacks against US interests, before a possible trial in Afghanistan. Later it offered to keep bin Laden's activities under strict surveillance by a committee of the 55-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The Taliban's third proposal was for a panel of Islamic scholars to decide the issue.
The US found all three proposals unacceptable.
A US court has indicted bin Laden to stand trial for allegedly masterminding twin US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998, but the Taliban insist he is a "guest" and there is no evidence against him.
AFP