Pakistan's leader General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday played down chances of finding a solution to the problem of suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden when he visits Afghanistan.
"One would like to take up the issue with the Taliban leaders, but one cannot certainly assure or guarantee anything," Musharraf told a press conference here after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Musharraf, who said he had discussed bin Laden during the talks, said last week he planned to meet soon with leaders of the Islamic Taliban militia which now controls most of Afghanistan, where bin Laden is suspected of hiding.
Washington wants the extradition of the millionaire bin Laden, who is suspected of being behind bomb attacks on two US embassies in eastern Africa in August 1998 that left 224 dead.
In an interview published here Saturday in the government newspaper Al-Ahram, Musharraf called for the United States and Afghanistan to reach a negotiated settlement to the bin Laden problem.
He also pledged his own government would not serve as a base for terrorism.
"We will not allow Pakistan to be used by any terrorist, any organization, any individual to project terrorism anywhere around the world, and certainly not Egypt," he said.
In 1996, Egypt and Pakistan signed a security cooperation agreement, months after an attack against the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad claimed by Egyptian Islamic militants Al-Jihad which left 17 people dead -- CAIRO (AFP)- Photos AFP Archive.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
