May 18, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423

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RIYADH, May 17: Taliban leader Mulla Omar, in an interview carried in the Arabic daily Sharq Al-Awsat, has warned that his war with the United States has only started and its flames would engulf the White House.

In the interview Mulla Omar said Osama Bin Laden is alive. Referring to the Sept 11 events, he said, “the great actions” were significant historical events, which achieved their ends. These will be repeated if the United States does not remove their causes, Omar said. He also asked the Palestinians to continue their struggle.

This was Mulla Omar’s first interview with a journalist for over two years. Sharq Al-Awsat reporter met Omar’s special information adviser after an appointment. The reporter was asked to hand over a questionnaire. This was translated into Pushto and taken to Mulla Omar. His answers were translated back into Arabic and handed over to the reporter.

The Taliban leader said his organization did not believe the war had ended in Afghanistan, or in Palestine or in any other Muslim country for that matter. As for the war in Afghanistan he said, “I can say that the war has just started, its fires have been kindled.

That fire will reach the White House because it is the seat of all injustice and oppression and where they launched a war against Islam without any legitimate reason. When the killing of the oppressed people increased in number we decided to withdraw from the land and start the phase of guerilla war in the mountains, so that the lives of the people and the poor Mujahideen may be spared,” he said.

Omar said those who carried out the attacks in the United States had a clear objective. “What is important for the US now to find out why they did that. America should remove the casue that made them do it.”