Islamic clerics from across Afghanistan on Thursday adopted a resolution asking Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan of his own accord, a Taliban official told AFP.
The clerics also passed a resolution that called for a jihad, or holy war, if the United States attacks Afghanistan, said Mullah Mohammad Muslim Haqqani, the deputy minister of higher education.
"They asked the Taliban to persuade bin Laden to leave Afghanistan at the proper time and of his own choice," Haqqani, a participant in the talks, told AFP minutes after the meeting finished.
"They also said that if the US attacks Afghanistan it will be the obligation of every Muslim to carry out jihad."
The resolutions were passed at the end of a two-day meeting of hundreds of clerics from all 32 provinces of Afghanistan.
The clerics, called ulema in Muslim countries, had been asked to issue a ruling on bin Laden by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban militia ruling Afghanistan.
The Taliban has previously refused all requests to extradite bin Laden, who has been indicted by a New York prosecutor in connection with the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in Africa.
Bin Laden is also suspected by the United States of involvement in last week's attacks on New York and Washington which left some 6,000 people dead -- KABUL (AFP)
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