By Jack Redden and Peter Millership
Islamabad/Washington - Afghanistan's clerics on Thursday urged Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, Washington's prime suspect in last week's nightmare attacks, to leave their country where he has lived as a "guest".
The United States, which ordered 100 extra warplanes to the Gulf region in response to the attacks which left 6 000 dead or missing, had urged the Taliban to hand over the world's most wanted man or face the consequences.
A grand council, or shura, of Afghanistan's senior Islamic clerics issued an edict recommending that Bin Laden leave their land-locked nation whenever possible, the information minister of the ruling Taliban Islamic movement said.
"To avoid the current tumult and also future similar suspicions, the high council of the honorable ulema (clerics) recommends to the Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) to persuade Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan whenever possible," said the edict issued after a two-day meeting of clerics.
Bin Laden should find another place to live, the verdict said.
The US State Department had no immediate comment on the edict.
Earlier, several clerics said in speeches that Bin Laden should not be given up. "Will the issue be resolved by surrendering Osama?" one cleric was quoted as saying. "No, because America has repeatedly said Osama was not the only issue with Afghanistan."
The September 11 attacks, in which hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, wreaked havoc across the world's markets by raising the twin spectres of recession and war. US President George W Bush is looking at ways to save the economy from slumping further.
After Wall Street resumed its slide on Wednesday to three-year lows, major stock markets in Asia weakened on Thursday despite efforts by central banks around the world to bolster confidence by cutting interest rates.
Bush will address a Joint Session of the US Congress on Thursday to urge Americans to be vigilant and patient as the United States prepared to strike the first blow in what he has called the first war of the 21st century.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the purist Islamic Taliban, appeared in a speech to the council, or shura, to rule out a swift handover of Bin Laden asking instead for proof of his involvement to be given to an Islamic court.
The Taliban has threatened to call a jihad, or holy war, against the United States if attacked and Omar told the shura on Wednesday that Afghanistan's enemies were using Bin Laden as an excuse to try and destroy the Islamic state. - Reuters