Global Policy Forum

By Mohammad Bashir

Afghan leaders blasted Americans as "followers of Satan" Friday as a UN deadline for the ruling Taliban militia to hand over indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden expired and new sanctions took effect.

United Nations officials in neighbouring Pakistan said the deadline expired at 0501 GMT, or just after midnight in New York, but the Islamic militia has shown nothing but open defiance and steadfast resignation.

"They (the United States and the UN) are followers of Satan, trying to udermine Islam. These sanctions cannot divert us from our determination," Taliban Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqeb told some 2,000 worshippers, mostly soldiers and officials, at a mosque here.

"The outside world may think how panicked and sad we might be. But you see that Afghans are not afraid. They have the same happy faces and live their normal life."

Militia leaders have offered guarantees that UN staff and foreign aid workers would be spared the violent protests that greeted the first sanctions in 1999.

Taliban Supreme Leader Mulla Mohammad Omar has called on Afghans to "refrain from holding demonstrations against cruel enemies of humanity" while staying united "in the face of machinations of enemies of our faith."

Nevertheless, the UN has halved its foreign staff here and closed its offices Thursday as a "precautionary" measure. UN officials said the offices would reopen Sunday depending on the security situation, which could change after Friday prayers in Kabul's main mosques, where mullahs are expected to denounce the UN and the West.

"I haven't heard of anything positive or negative, which is probably a good sign," one senior UN staffer told AFP.

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 the Saudi millionaire is a "guest" in Afghanistan and there is no evidence against him.

The trial of four of his alleged associates, who have pleaded not guilty, has already begun in New York. Of 18 others who have been charged, one has pleaded guilty, three are in Britain awaiting extradition and 14 are at large.

Taliban Shariat Radio on Friday reported: "Afghanistan has no treaty with any country including the US to extradite people they don't like. "Our traditions do not allow us to expel the one who has fought a holy war against Russians and communists." It also warned that the "isolation of ancient Afghanistan will entail dangers for the region and the world."

The UN Security Council resolution adopted last month calls for an arms embargo on the Taliban, the closure of its overseas offices, a ban on foreign trips by Taliban chiefs and the freezing of bin Laden's assets.

It also blocks exports to Afghanistan of the chemical used to convert opium into heroin. UN figures released Thursday showed Afghanistan remained the world's largest producer of opium last year, although production had fallen some 29 percent to 3,276 tonnes due mainly to severe drought. The UN Drug Control Programme said an "alarming" increase in the number of poppy growing villages had been recorded despite Taliban efforts to stamp out the lucrative crop.

Taliban officials have tried to capitalise on criticism from foreign aid workers and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the Security Council's decision would not "facilitate humanitarian work."

They have called the curbs "inhumane" and warned food and medical supplies would be blocked at a time of widespread drought and continuing civil war which have driven some 500,000 people from their homes.

Washington and Moscow, who co-sponsored the sanctions resolution, have dismissed the claims as propaganda. "The sanctions are political and not economic sanctions -- they do not prohibit private-sector trade and commerce, including the importation of food and medicines into Afghanistan," the US State Department said Thursday.