ISLAMABAD, Sept. 13 (QNA) - Talks
between a Pakistani delegation and leaders of the Taliban Authorities beganin
the Afghan capital Kabul today.
a group of Pakistani senior
officials flew to Kabul this morning after the end of an urgent meeting of the
top political and military leders of the country, chaired by Pakistani President
Pervaiz Musharraf.
Local observers believe that the
main topic for discussion was the U.S. demand to extradite Osama bin Laden, who
is accused of organising acts of terrorism against the U.S. diplomatic missions
in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and suspected of complicity in staging the recent
acts of terrorism in New York and Washington.
Many experts believe that if the
Taliban movement refuses to meet Washington's demand, the bombing of Afghanistan
will become inevitable.
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Athens, sept. 13 (qna)-
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou is scheduled to meet with Israeli and
Palestinian officials on Sunday during a two-day visit, Greek Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Panayiotis Beglitis said on Thursday.
Papandreou is expected to arrive
in Jerusalem on Saturday for the enthroning of the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch
of the Holy Land.
Beglitis said the Greek foreign
minister will have separate meetings with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
washington, sept 13 (qna)-
the government and people of the kingdom of saudi arabia strongly reject all forms and acts of terrorism.
Saudi Press Agency SPA
quoted Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaiz, the Saudi ambassador to the United
States, as saying that the government and people of his country felt that anyone
with a terrorist connection does not belong to the kingdom.
In a press statement to SPA, in
response to mass media reports about suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden which
describe him as a "Saudi", Prince Bandar said that bin Laden's Saudi nationality
had been withdrawn from him due to his irresponsible acts which are completely
against the tolerant religin of islam and which are considered flagrant
violation of all heavenly religions.
Prince Bandar expressed hope that
the mass media and politicians will not arbitrarily accuse Muslism and Islam, as
whoever committed these criminal acts violated all religions, morals and human
values.
the saudi ambassador
affirmed his country's stand with the united states to discover those who were
behind the terror attacks that targeted a number of vital locations in new
york and washington on tuesday.
gaza, sept 13 (qna)- israeli
sources close to Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres said peres
and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will hold their long-awaited,
much-delayed meeting on Sunday.
Israel Radio monitored here
reported today that the talks will take place at Gaza International Airport,
near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Peres and Arafat have been trying
to arrange a meeting for weeks in order to discuss a ceasefire in the
Israeli-Palestinian confrontations.
Israeli media reported Thursday
that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held separate telephone conversations
with the two Wednesday night, urging them to meet.
cairo, sept. 13 (qna)- the arab
league council today condemned
the terrorist attacks against the
u.s, which claimed lives of
thousands of innocent peopel on tuesday.
it expressed its support and
solidarity with the families of the victims in these critical conditions.
this came in a statement the
council issued today following an urgent meeting it held at the arab league at
the level of permanent representatives .
the council stressed that
terrorism is an international phenomenon, which many people, including the
arabs, suffer from.
it stressed the necessity of
fighting this phenomenon, recalling the arab 1998 agreement to fight terrorism.
the council called on holding an
international conference ''to prepare a joint and organized reaction for the
international community towards terrorism.''
following the urgent meeting, secretary
general of the arab league amre moussa warned in a statement to reporters from
jumping into conclusions and relating what has occurred in the u.s. with the
developments in the middle east, asserting not to randomly accuse any side .
moussa said that the issue of
israel taking advantage of these incidents and carrying out a military
escalation against the palestinians has been discussed in the meeting.
he added, ''israel is playing a
very serious game that would lead to even more serious consequences.'' he called
on israel to stop this serious evil game and stop its attempts to link between
the middle east and the u.s. attacks.
he informed the council of the
arab and international contacts he had carried out, including his telephone call
with the u.s. secretary of state colin powell during these critical
circumstances .
he pointed out that powell had
informed him that the u.s. administration is taking measures to protect the
americans, ''despite their ethnic affiliation, whether they are arabs or
muslims.''
meanwhile,
moussa asserted that the palestinian intifada is ''a right and a legitimate
resistance against the israeli invasion, but it is not terrorism.''