US President Mr George W. Bush warned today Washington was in "hot pursuit" of the US terror culprits, as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan rebuffed an 11th-hour appeal for them to surrender prime suspect Osama bin Laden.
The caution came as US media reported the US had already deployed special forces inside Afghanistan to hunt down Saudi-born fugitive bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in the war-ravaged country.
Mr Bush also shut the door on finding a diplomatic solution to the stand-off that erupted after the Taliban failed to hand over their "guest" following this September 11th US terror attacks, warning the militia to simply surrender bin Laden to justice or face the consequences.
But despite the growing international diplomatic, including a Pakistani delegation, and military pressure on the Taliban, its supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was defiant today, saying he did not expect a US attack on his now besieged country.
Mr Bush, warning the time for negotiations with the Taliban had run out, said today the hunt for bin Laden and other terror suspects was gathering speed.
"Make no mistake about it: we're in hot pursuit," he said, as the White House declined to confirm the reports that small teams of US special forces had been in Afghanistan for two weeks searching for bin Laden.
"There is no negotiation with the Taliban. They heard what I said, and now they can act," he added.
Mr Bush won crucial support for his war against terrorism from Jordan's King Abdullah II, the first Arab head of state to meet with him since the attacks.
The King Abdullah predicted most Muslims would form "a united front" with Washington.
"This is a fight against evil," he said, adding it would be "very easy" for Middle Eastern states to join the US-led campaign.
Echoing Mr Bush's message that "our war is against evil, not against Islam," the monarch declared: "What these people stand for is completely against all the principles that Arab Muslims believe in."
The US diplomatic offensive appeared to win some ground today, as a Gulf diplomat said Saudi Arabia had put aside worries about inflaming Islamic opinion and agreed to let US forces use an air command base in the kingdom.
US diplomacy also bore fruit in central Asia when Russia and its former Soviet satellites Uzbekistan and Tajikistan finalised a joint plan to deal with the threat posed to the region by Islamic radical movements, and with Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin stressing Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States would cooperate with the US-led campaign.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell met Kazakh Foreign Minister Mr Yerlan Idrisov in Washington and thanked him for Astana's opening of its airspace for US planes to support possible military strikes in Afghanistan.
But despite a mighty US war machine massing around Afghanistan, US officials have played down the potential of an imminent strike, saying their efforts were focused on diplomacy and choking off the terrorists' finances.
US officials were meeting with members of the UN Security Council on today in a bid to secure a deal to isolate and punish any state that does not co-operate with a US-led strategy to freeze terrorist funds.
AFP