Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged European countries to end their military cooperation with US forces in Afghanistan, in an audio tape aired by Al Jazeera television tonight.
He said American power was waning and it would be wise for the Europeans to quickly end their role in Afghanistan, where many European countries contribute to the 50,000-strong NATO and US-led coalition forces fighting his Taliban allies.
"With the grace of God ... the American tide is receding and they would eventually return to their home across the Atlantic ... It is in your interest to force the hand of your politicians (away from) the White House," said a speaker in the recording who sounded like bin Laden.
He said the United States would soon leave the region, leaving Afghanistan's neighbours "to settle their scores".
The United States led the invasion of Afghanistan to depose its Taliban rulers in late 2001, after they refused to hand over bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Al Jazeera, which did not say how it obtained the recording, aired portions in which bin Laden said the Taliban had no knowledge of plans for the attacks.
"I am the one responsible... The Afghan people and government knew nothing whatsoever about these events," he said, adding that the United States had not provided any evidence of Taliban involvement to justify its involvement.
"Europe marched behind it with no choice but to be a lackey," bin Laden said.
Among European countries with troops in Afghanistan are Britain, Germany and France. The aim of the coalition forces is to help bring security to allow reconstruction after decades of conflict.
But Afghanistan has seen a steady rise in violence since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject foreign troops two years ago.
Bin Laden accused foreign forces of committing atrocities in Afghanistan.