Afghan clerics ask Osama to leave country voluntarily

Islamabad, Sept 20: As the US geared up for military operations, Islamic clerics in Afghanistan on Thursday asked Osama bin Laden, whom America wants ‘dead or alive’, to leave the country voluntarily and simultaneously vowed to wage a holy war against America in the event of an attack.

After two days of deliberations, the grand council of clerics from throughout Afghanistan, in a unanimously adopted resolution, urged the Taliban regime to persuade bin Laden, prime suspect in last week’s terrorist strikes in the US, to leave Afghanistan of his own free will.

"The Ulema (Islamic scholars) wants the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to encourage Osama to leave Afghanistan in the proper time and of his own free will," a statement carried by Bakhtar news agency at the end of the meeting said.However, the clerics have left the last word on the issue on the Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar. The statement set no deadline for bin Laden to leave the country.

They also decided to declare jehad in the event of a US retaliatory strike.

— Reuters