ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <!-- saved from url=(0044)http://www.wam.org.ae/2001/Sep/22/469560.htm --> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Emirates News Agency (WAM) / English News</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4616.200" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" background=uae-2.files/wambg.jpe> <DIV align=left> <TABLE style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width=630 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 8px; PADDING-LEFT: 8px; COLOR: rgb(0,0,255)" vAlign=top width=633> <P align=center><FONT color=#000000><BIG><BR><BIG><STRONG><!--Title_Start_Here-->UAE breaks ties with Taliban<!--Title_End_Here--></STRONG></BIG></BIG></FONT></P> <P align=center><!--Thumb_Start_Here--><!--Thumb_End_Here--></P> <P align=left><FONT color=#000000><!--NewsText_Start_Here-->Abu Dhabi, Sept 22, 2001 (WAM) --The UAE today announced breaking diplomatic ties with the ruling Taliban of Afghanistan, it was announced by an official source from the Foreign Ministry. The source said that the UAE had exerted a lot of efforts in recent days to convince the Taliban government to respond positively to the United Nations demand to surrender Osama bin Laden to face international justice on charges levelled against him regarding the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, in which thousands of innocent lives perished, causing a breakdown of world peace and stability. +Regrettably the Taliban refused to respond positively to the efforts by the UAE and other countries,+ the sources said. The source stressed that the UAE cannot, in such a situation, continue to maintain its relations with a government which refuses to respond positively to the wish of the international community. As such, the UAE had decided to severe ties with the government of the Taliban from today,+ the source added. The source said that the UAE, based on its deep concern for the safety of the Afghan people, hopes that the Afghan officials would review carefully their stand and respond positively to the demand of the international community,+ the source added. WAM/SA-VV <!--NewsText_End_Here--></FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <P align=left>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A href="javascript:history.back(1)"><STRONG>Go to headlines</STRONG></A></P> <DIV align=left> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD bgColor=#f9f5ae> <P align=center><SMALL><SMALL>(c) Copyright 2001 Emirates News Agency (WAM)</SMALL></SMALL><BR><SMALL><SMALL>All rights reserved. No part of&nbsp; this site may be reproduced without the written consent of WAM</SMALL></SMALL><BR><SMALL><SMALL>Designed by <A href="http://www.sedco-online.com/">SEDCO®</A> &amp; WAM</SMALL></SMALL></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></BODY></HTML>