The White House sternly warned Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia Wednesday, saying "it is now time to act, not to negotiate" over handing over Osama bin Laden, as US aircraft carriers set sail for undisclosed destinations.
Afghanistan must "take the action necessary to no longer harbor terrorists," said Ari Fleischer, spokesman for US President George W. Bush.
The warning came as Afghanistan's Taliban signaled in Kabul it would sooner face a massive military onslaught than surrender Bin Laden, Washington's top suspect in last week's terror strikes.
It also came as a US aircraft carrier battle group set out Wednesday from Norfolk, Virginia for the Mediterranean and "points east" as the US military began repositioning forces worldwide for its campaign against terrorism, Pentagon officials said.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld emphasized that the US campaign against terrorism will not be confined to Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
"It is a problem of a number of networks of terrorists that have been active across the globe, and it is something that strikes at the very heart of what Americans are, which is a free people," he said on CNN.
"And the president has not narrowed it down to a man or an organization of a country," he said.
As more than 1,000 clerics, or ulema, from all over war-ravaged Afghanistan were meeting in Kabul Wednesday to discuss the possibility of handing over Bin Laden, the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a defiant statement which appeared to quash hopes of an extradition deal.
Omar said Bin Laden would not be extradited without clear evidence linking him to the terror strikes that killed more than 5,800 people in New York and Washington, and dismissed US allegations against the Saudi-born militant as a pretext to wage war on Islam.
With at least three US aircraft carriers heading to undisclosed locations and Washington drumming up international backing for a military assault, both sides appeared to be moving closer to conflict.
Western embassies in Islamabad began moving non-essential staff out of Pakistan. Diplomats stressed, however, there was no emergency evacuation underway.
Tens of thousands of Afghans were fleeing Kabul and other Afghan cities for fear of US attack, massing near the border with Pakistan. At least 15,000 refugees have crossed into Pakistan in the past week, the United Nations said.
Borders with neighbors Pakistan, Iran and China have all been closed in anticipation of US air strikes in retaliation for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Worldwide, Muslim nations which have already pledged support for the US were bracing themselves for possible conflict within their own borders.
Pakistan's leading Islamic body, the Ulema Council, issued a fatwa calling for a holy war against the US and its allies if they attack Afghanistan.
The decree called into question President Pervez Musharraf's level of control and stability within the nuclear-capable country.
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, hard-line Islamic groups threatened to raid US facilities and expel Americans in the event of a military strike.
"If America drops even one bullet in Afghanistan, God willing, we will wipe out all US facilities and interests here," said Muhammad Kalono, the head of the Indonesian Laskar Jundullah group.
Bush has recruited support from both countries as part of efforts to establish a worldwide anti-terrorist coalition.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has already signed up to Bush's campaign, was meeting his European counterparts to "set the agenda" for support, while US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was in Moscow sounding out Russia's readiness to cooperate.
Most allies have voiced strong support for the US, but some stressed reservations at backing an ill-defined military operation.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Germany was ready to face the risks of a US-led military response, but rejected "adventures" and called for a comprehensive European Union plan to combat terrorism by tackling its roots.
French President Jacques Chirac, who met with Bush Tuesday, said that while military cooperation was conceivable, Paris must first be "in agreement on the aims and methods of an action".
But French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin vowed in Paris that France would "play a full part" in the global campaign against terrorism. "This crime won't go unpunished," he vowed.
In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed to take immediate steps to allow Japanese troops to provide logistical support in any US retaliation for the terror attacks. Koizumi may visit the US as early as Thursday to hold talks with Bush, Jiji Press news agency said.
China, however, has proved a reluctant conscript with leaders insisting that the UN Security Council -- in which China, Russia, France and Britain as well as the US hold vetoes as permanent members -- play a deciding role.
The Security Council has already given the Taliban a demand to "immediately and unconditionally" hand over Bin Laden.
But in a statement to the gathering of Islamic scholars deciding Bin Laden's fate, which was extended until Thursday, Taliban leader Omar said the extremist could not be responsible for the suicide plane attacks.
"We have conveyed to America that we have snapped all Osama's communication links and he cannot talk to anyone in the outside world," Omar said in a statement carried by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.
"We have also told America that the Islamic government of Afghanistan denies any involvement in the recent incident," he said.
Omar repeated the Taliban's offer to try Bin Laden in the Afghan Supreme Court or allow his activities be monitored by the Organization of Islamic Conference, options already rejected by the United States.
Other Taliban leaders were more forthright, with one minister hailing any forthcoming conflict as a chance for Islamic fighters who missed out on Afghanistan's 1979-89 war of liberation against the Soviet Union.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation expanded the list of people wanted in connection with the attacks to nearly 200, as the CIA pored over reports that one of the suspects in the plot met an Iraqi intelligence official in the run-up. Iraq denied any role -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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