The United States has ruled out an offer from the Taliban leader for talks on the handing over of terrorist suspect, Osama bin Laden, as tensions increased across Pakistan over the continued threat of an attack on Afghanistan.
While appearing to rule out any swift surrender, the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, said yesterday he was ready for dialogue with the US on bin Laden, the prime suspect in last week's atrocities in New York and Washington.
However, the White House quickly moved to rule out talks, saying it wanted action, not negotiations. A spokesman for President Bush said he expected the Taliban to "take the actions necessary to no longer harbour terrorists - whatever form that takes".
President George Bush will make a televised address to the US Congress today and has said he looked forward to explaining who carried out last week's attacks and why. But he will not announce specific military retaliation for the attacks, his national security advisor, Ms Condoleezza Rice said. "This is not a speech to announce military action," she said.
Last night, the US ordered more than 100 milirary aircraft to move towards the Middle East. They are expected to start leaving today and include B-52 bombers, F-16 fighter jets and AWACS radar planes.
In a separate development, US banks have also been asked to trace any transactions involving 21 suspects identified by the FBI.
Mullah Omar indicated his willingness to dialogue in an address to Taliban religious elders, who will decide today on the fate of bin Laden. In the address to the gathering of clerics in Kabul yesterday, Mullah Omar said he had not tried to create problems with America.
"We have had several talks with the present and the past American governments and we are ready for (further) talks," he said.
Meanwhile Pakistan's President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, told his country in a TV address that the US decision to go after bin Laden did not target Islam or the people of Afghanistan.
"Nowhere have the words Islam or the Afghan nation been mentioned in discussions between Pakistan and the United States about cooperating in their efforts to battle terrorism," he said.
He warned the attacks against the US, and Pakistan's decision to help find and prosecute the perpetrators, had put his country in its worst crisis since its war with India in 1971.