US civil rights leader, the Rev Jesse Jackson, said last night he had no immediate plans to embark on a peace mission to Afghanistan's Taliban rulers as US authorities press the regime for the hand-over of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
"I do not want to go. I have no plans to go," the Rev Jackson told reporters after a Taliban representative in Islamabad said that the former US presidential hopeful would be welcome in Afghanistan.
The Rev Jackson, who said he was contacted Wednesday by Taliban officials and invited to travel to neighbouring Pakistan to act as an intermediary in the current crisis, did not rule out a role at a later stage. The Rev Jackson said he would be phoning his contacts in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to respond to their overture.
The Taliban denied they had issued an invitation to Jackson but said they would welcome his offer to travel to Afghanistan.
The Afghan Islamic Press last night said a Pakistani delegation is due to the Taliban headquarters in Kandahar today to meet the reclusive Taliban leader, Mr Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Taliban leader, Mr Mullah Mohammad Omar said yesterday any Afghan helping an attack against the Taliban would suffer the same fate meted out to those who aided the Soviet invaders in the 1980s.
He was speaking on the fifth anniversary of the castration and hanging of former Soviet-installed Afghan president, Najibullah, by Taliban fighters, and of the taking of the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, by the Taliban movement.
"Those Afghans who want to take over power in Afghanistan with the help of the American troops are the same as those Afghans who came into Afghanistan with the help of the Russian troops," Mr Omar said in a statement.
Mr Omar has ordered all Afghans to return to their homes after the UN reported millions of people on the move. There was little sign of the Taliban anniversary being marked in Kabul where Wednesday there was a frenzied attack on the US Embassy which has been vacant for 12 years.
Mr Omar's position appears to be more perilous by the day as he is under siege from the rest of the world and under attack from within. There were reports last night that more middle ranking leaders had deserted the Taliban's fighting forces.
Meanwhile, Pakistani police revealed yesterday they have detained several people in a massive manhunt for jihadis, or militant holy warriors, who may have links to bin Laden.
The manhunt was launched three days after the US first said it suspected bin Laden was behind the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Some people have been picked up for intensive investigation and interrogation that are likely to provide vital information about bin Laden following the September 11th attack," an official said. Officials said several people had been detained since the manhunt was launched.