ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Mullah Muhammad Zaeef on Sunday night said that the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and Osama bin Laden were safe.

“Alhamdollilah they are safe,” was the short reply given by Mr Zaeef when a question was shot at him by a foreign correspondent whether the two were still alive, after the former finished a statement soon after the US strikes against his country began.

Mr Zaeef, with a very grim face, read out a statement saying that the aggression would unite the Afghan nation and they would rise against it.

Condemning the attacks, he said, “these brutal attacks are horrendous acts of terrorism.”

He said that Afghan nation was the victim of “American arrogance and expansionism.”

America, he added, wanted to snatch the Islamic system which the Taliban government had introduced in the country.

The United States would never achieve its political goal by launching the attack on innocent citizens of Afghanistan.

“Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had chosen the path of talks to solve the problems but the United States of America had responded with an act of terrorism.”

AFP adds: He said Taliban would not deliver Osama bin Laden to the US, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.

“We cannot hand over Osama to the US,” Zaeef said. “This is an attack on an independent country. We will fight until our last breadth,” he added.