WASHINGTON, May 26: Former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, in his first interview after three years in detention, said the regime erred by hosting Osama bin Laden but could still make a respectable showing if it ran for office. In the interview, published in the Washington Times on Thursday, Mr Mutawakil said it had been a mistake to harbour bin Laden and his followers who used Afghanistan as a base for a series of strikes on US interests culminating in the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

“Our guests used Afghanistan for their own ends against the world,” he said. “We suffered and so did they because of the international reaction.”

Mr Mutawakil said rich and powerful guests had often been a problem for Afghanistan. “There were the Soviet occupation forces, then the Arabs, and now it’s not just the Americans, it’s the international coalition and NATO. And there’s no doubt that today’s guests are very strong compared to our own army. At least, they’re strong technically.”