Report: Taleban delegation meets with Bin Laden in Jalaal Abad

Well-informed Afghan sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that a delegation from the leadership of the Taleban met several days ago with Osama Bin Laden in Jalaal Abad, east Afghanistan, in order to reform the relations that have been already intensified between the two sides "following the subjugation of the movement to the US and UK pressure on expelling Bin Laden or handing him over."

The Taleban, had earlier announced that Bin Laden had disappeared and its representative at the UN, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, said that Bin Laden is no longer in the areas which fall under the control of the movement in Afghanistan.

The same sources explained that the Taleban delegation comprised the foreign minister in the government of Mulla Abdul Jalil Akhund and the chairman of the administrative department at the ministry, Mulla Hafiz Allah. Both men asked Bin Laden to return to Qandhar, southwestern Afghanistan, the headquarters of his first residence.

Sources close to Bin Laden said that he feels he has more freedom in Jalaal Abad, where he used to live in the 1980s, than in Qandhar, especially as Bin Laden is staying beside leader Mahmoud who fought with them during the communist invasion of Afghanistan.