01 February 2004	Sunday	09 Zilhaj 1424

WASHINGTON, Jan 31: Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers rebuffed more than 30 US requests to expel Osama bin Laden between 1996 and just before the September 11 attacks in 2001 , newly declassified official documents revealed on Friday.

A long list of official contacts summarised by the declassified State Department document showed that Taliban leader Mullah Omar expressed interest in a confidential dialogue with Washington over the Al Qaeda mastermind.

He also suggested that Osama be tried by a panel of Islamic scholars or that his movements be monitored by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) or the United Nations.

The documents show most of the approaches to the Al Qaeda took place under the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Only three meetings or conversations detailed in the document, obtained and released by George Washington University's National Security archive, took place after President George W. Bush's inauguration in January 2001.

Following bomb blasts at US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998, which were blamed on Osama, Omar offered to hold a secret dialogue with the United States, during a telephone conversation with State Department officials.

On September 13 of the same year, a senior US diplomat told a top Taliban official in Islamabad that the militia would be held responsible for any new terror strikes by Osama.

Subsequent entries into the State Department summary show a pattern of stalling by the Taliban and reluctance to hand over Osama bin Laden.

On July 19, 1999 former assistant secretary of state for South Asia Karl Inderfurth told Taliban Information Minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi "that the US would be forced to take further actions if (Osama) bin Laden is not brought to justice," the document said.

Three US-Taliban contacts were recorded after Bush entered the White House.

In the latest, on July, 2, 2001, Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister Mulla Abdul Jalil told US Ambassador to Pakistan William Milam that Osama had not been "convicted and that the Taliban still consider him innocent."

After the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington, which left about 3,000 dead, and a continued Taliban refusal to hand over Osama, US-led forces ousted the Taliban but have been unable to find him.

Some experts believe that Osama and Mullah Omar are hiding out in remote mountainous areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

A US military spokesman said on Wednesday that the US-led coalition in Afghanistan is confident of capturing Osama by the end of the year.

"Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar represent a threat to the world and they need to be destroyed. We believe we will catch them within this year," Lt Col Bryan Hilferty told reporters in Kabul.-AFP