Afghan's ruling Taliban has appealed to the Organisation for Islamic Conference (OIC) and Islamic states for help in case of an attack by the United States.
The decision to appeal for help from the OIC was taken at a special meeting of the Supreme Council of the Taliban that convened in Kandahar last night.
"We should unite against our enemies who want to crush us because we are Muslim," the movement's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar is quoted as telling the council members.
"A joint strategy should be evolved for the protection of Afghanistan," a senior Taliban official said after the council meeting.
The OIC does not recognise the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, but the Afghan seat on the council remains vacant.
The Taliban say neither they nor the prime suspect, Saudi-born zealot Osama bin Laden, had the capacity to organise the plot against the US.
They have refused to give up the bin Laden who has been sheltering in Afghanistan under the protection of the purist Taliban for many years.
He is assumed to be based near Kandahar, which is home to the senior Taliban leadership and the effective capital city.