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Taleban woos Northern Alliance as Bush again rejects negotiation offer

In another development, in an unexpected move, the Taleban has appealed to the Northern Alliance to join them in fighting the Americans, the Afghan Islamic Press reported in Islamabad.

Reacting to the offer to negotiate, a White House spokesperson said that Bush made it clear that there would be no negotiations.

The Taleban leadership on Sunday appeared to have softened its stand over handing over Osama in the face of a sustained bombing campaign by United States-led forces.

On Sunday night, the US resumed air raids on Afghanistan's capital Kabul and the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar.

Earlier, a senior minister in the Taleban administration had told reporters in Jalalabad that the militia was open to negotiations provided the US stopped the bombings.

"If the Taleban is given evidence that Osama bin Laden is involved (in the September 11 terror attacks in the US) and the bombing campaign stopped, we would be ready to hand him over to a third country," Deputy Prime Minister Haji Abdul Kabir said.

This is the first time that the Taleban was showing some flexibility in its stand since the US began bombing the country to smoke out Osama and punish the Taleban for protecting him.

Osama is the prime accused in the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

Agencies

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