from CNN
Quote:
Jesse Jackson mulls invitation from Taliban
September 27, 2001 Posted: 0033 GMT
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jesse Jackson said Wednesday that
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has asked him to lead a
"peace delegation" to the region.
The civil rights activist said he has not decided whether to
accept and remains reluctant to do so. But he suggested he is open
to making the trip if his involvement could prevent the deaths of
innocent Afghan civilians during a U.S. military campaign against
terrorism.
"We must weigh what this invitation means. We're not going to
be precipitous," Jackson said. "If we can do something to
encourage them to dismantle those terrorist bases, to choose to
hand over the suspects and release the Christians rather than
engage in a long bloody war, we'll encourage them to do so."
Jackson said he spoke with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who
repeated the Bush administration position that it will not
negotiate with the Taliban but did not urge Jackson not to go.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to comment. "I
would just reiterate what the president has said, that he will not
engage in any negotiations or discussions" with the Taliban,
Fleischer said.
"Either the Taliban government is going to stand alone and take
on this world pressure, or they are going to look for some graceful
way out," Jackson said. "I hope that appealing to a peace
delegation could be a bridge."
The United States has accused the Taliban of harboring Osama bin
Laden, the Saudi multimillionaire suspected of involvement in the
September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Jackson said he received the invitation to go to Pakistan in a
telegram Wednesday from Mohammed Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman at the
Taliban's embassy in Islamabad. The hard-line Islamic Taliban
movement controls much of Afghanistan; Pakistan is the only
remaining nation that recognizes them as the government of the
Central Asian country.
The Bush administration has called bin Laden, harbored by
Afghanistan since 1996, the chief suspect in the September 11 attacks
in New York and Washington that left nearly 7,000 people presumed
dead.
The United States has demanded that the Taliban hand over bin
Laden and the top lieutenants in his al-Qaida terrorist network,
and extinguish the terrorist training camps in their country.
"We would like to see this situation resolved in a way that
preserves the dignity and integrity of all sides ... in the
interest of avoiding the humanitarian catastrophe that would befall
the people of Afghanistan as a result of military strikes,"
Jackson quoted the telegram as saying.
Jackson has undertaken several missions to win the release of
American hostages overseas. In 1999 he secured the release of three
American soldiers captured by Serbs in Yugoslavia.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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[This message has been edited by Rikard (edited 09-27-2001).]