The Attack: Latest Developments

The Taliban conceded on Tuesday that Osama bin Laden could possibly have masterminded Tuesday's attack, but they want proof before turning him over to anyone.

By Stephen M. Silverman

Originally posted Tuesday September 18, 2001 08:06 AM EDT

• Afghanistan's Taliban rulers conceded on Tuesday that the possibility has not been ruled out that Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden masterminded last Tuesday's attack on America. But the hard-lined government said that proof of his guilt is required before he could be handed over.

• "Anyone who is responsible for this act, Osama or not, we will not side with him," Information Minister Qudrutullah Jamal told the Reuters news bureau in Pakistan over the phone from Kabul, Afghanistan. His statement reportedly marked the first time that the Taliban said that bin Laden may have been involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist siege. Previously, the hard-line Islamic movement has insisted that bin Laden could not possibly have been involved.

• Jamal spoke only hours after high-ranking Pakistani officials flew home following two days of talks aimed at persuading the Taliban that, if they do not hand over bin Laden, they will face the full fury of the U.S. military.

• Asked if the Taliban had any other conditions for handing over bin Laden, Jamal said they wanted guarantees that, if charged, he would face trial in a third country.

• "We want proof first, and we have been saying this for two years," he said, referring to demands for bin Laden's surrender after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

• At a Tuesday briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that the administration still "intends to take this attack to the terrorists."

• "We have a choice either to change the way we live, which is unacceptable, or to change the way that they live and we chose the latter," said Rumsfeld. "The only answer is to take the effort to them, where they are."