Taliban Wouldn't Hand Over Osama Bin Laden

The Taliban movement has claimed that it would not turn over Osama bin Laden and would be waging the jihad "until the last man standing," Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal was quoted as saying. According to Al-Jazeera, the Minister stated that an emergency session of the cabinet, held in Kabul on Monday, decided to back the initiative of ulems (theologists) to declare jihad (a holy war) to the United States. "The fewta (a religious decree) has taken effect and the Afghan people have started fulfilling it," Qudratullah Jamal stressed. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera reported three powerful explosions, which went off in the course of bombings of northern Kabul - Taliban had launched several Skad-class surface-to-surface missiles on the positions of the Northern Alliance located 20 km from the city. According to a spokesman for the Taliban movement, over the past two days the anti-aircraft defence managed to down three American aircraft. The Pentagon refutes these allegations.