No deal with US on Bin Laden 8212; Taliban

quot;Let me make it clear that we are not about to strike a deal on the issue which concerns our religion, our Islamic duty, and our culture,quot; the Taliban leader said in an interview published in the latest issue of the weekly magazine Outlook.

Handing over someone, that too a Muslim like Bin Laden who fought in the Afghan Jehad and has taken refuge with the Afghans, to his enemies, isn8217;t possible for the Taliban, he said. Ruling outany compromise, he said, quot;All our offers to peacefully resolve the issue have been turned down by the US government 8212; the US authorities look down on us and are bent upon using force against Afghanistan.

quot;And now economic sanctions have been imposed against a poor and war-ravaged country like Afghanistan. The US Government, through its belligerent actions, is forcing us to close the Bin Laden chapter.quot;

Admitting that the sanctions would hurt, Omar appealed to the quot;Islamic countries in particular to come to the help of their Afghan Muslim brethren and minimise their sufferings.quot;

He said the Afghan people have suffered a lot due to 20 years of war imposed on them by the Soviet Union and now the punitive sanctions dictated by the US would further contribute to their woes.