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Taliban Condemn Attacks in U.S.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:44 p.m. ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers condemned the devastating terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Tuesday and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.
The Taliban's ambassador to neighboring Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said bin Laden, the Saudi dissident who has been given asylum in this troubled nation, does not have the facilities needed to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks.
``It is premature to level allegations against a person who is not in a position to carry out such attacks,'' he said. ``It was a well-organized plan and Osama has no such facilities.''
U.N. sanctions are currently in place against Afghanistan to press the Taliban to hand over bin Laden for trial in connection with the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people.
The Taliban, a religious militia, promotes a harsh brand of Islam in the roughly 95 percent of Afghanistan under its control.