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DATE=10/26/1999 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=PURSUING BIN LADEN NUMBER=5-44613 BYLINE=ED WARNER DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says normal relations can resume between the United States and Afghanistan if the Taleban movement, which controls most of the country, expels terror suspect Osama bin Laden. If he is not expelled from the country by November 14, the U-N Security Council has approved economic sanctions to be imposed on Afghanistan. The Taleban movement had previously refused to give up bin Laden, but now say it is reconsidering. V-O-A's Ed Warner reports the official U-S view of the pursuit of bin Laden and some thoughts of a skeptic. TEXT: There was Osama bin Laden walking down the street in broad daylight. Or so it seemed to Milt Bearden on his recent trip to northwest Pakistan. But wait! Here was another bin Laden and yet another. Lookalikes were springing up all over the place, a tribute, says Mr. Bearden, to the mythical role bin Laden has now assumed. To many Pakistanis, he has become a folk hero worthy of imitation. A former C-I-A official who supervised U-S support for Afghanistan in the war against the Soviets, Milt Bearden was disturbed by the animosity toward the United States he found in Pakistan. Rumors were rife of an imminent U-S attack to capture bin Laden. Some radicals threatened to fight to the death to prevent that. Mr. Bearden says some U-S actions have unnecessarily alarmed people in the region: /// Bearden Act /// It began with our missile strike against the Taleban in August 1998, and subsequent threats from Washington that "Hey, not only did we do that in going after bin Laden or his infrastructure, but also we will continue to do it if we feel it is in our interest." I do not think we could have a more tense situation in an area where we really did not need to be that tense. /// End Act /// Mr. Bearden says the Taleban have kept bin Laden under close guard. There have been no terrorist acts attributed to him since the bombings of the U-S embassies in Africa in August last year. The United States played a key role in helping the Afghans defeat the Soviet army. But Mr. Bearden.says Washington then lost interest in a country devastated by warfare: /// Bearden Act /// As soon as the Soviet Union walked out of Afghanistan, the United States turned tail and ran and never had a second thought about Afghanistan until we condemn them for Islamist excesses. Afghanistan is more or less a failed country, and it has failed largely, I think, because we stopped caring at all. We just slipped away in the night. /// End Act /// Mr. Bearden says one reason America may not care is a fear of Islam. Michael Sheehan, U-S State Department Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism, denies the pursuit of bin Laden is motivated by any hostility to Islam despite the Taleban's harsh Islamic rule. The United States, he says, makes only one demand of the Taleban: release bin Laden to be tried for his terrorist acts. In an interview with V-O-A's Pashto language service, Mr. Sheehan says bin Laden does not have to be brought to the United States for trial: /// Sheehan Act /// I think there is some flexibility in the Security Council resolution that he could be extradited to a third country, not the United States. I would be very willing, and I am sure others would be willing to talk to them about how that might be done. It is important that he is tried for the crimes he has committed, but the venue of that leaves some options open. It is possible that could be an Islamic country. /// End Act /// Mr. Sheehan says if the Taleban does not release bin Laden, sanctions will be imposed on Afghanistan, but they will be narrowly framed. The United States has no intention of adding to the hardship of the Afghan people. Mr. Sheehan says the U-S Government does not consider Afghanistan either a terrorist state or a hostile one: /// Sheehan Act /// The Taleban do not threaten the United States directly, and they have indicated to us many times in our meetings that they want good relations with us. In fact, we also want better relations with the Taleban. It is really important to get beyond this issue of Osama bin Laden for us to do that. /// End Act ///. Mr. Sheehan says there is a compelling case against bin Laden, and justice should be done somewhere in the world, for he is a danger to the world. (signed) NEB/EW/JP 26-Oct-1999 12:56 PM EDT (26-Oct-1999 1656 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .