Rocca fails to convince Taliban on bin Laden

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca has failed to convince Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef on charges of terrorism against Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, reports said here yesterday.

"The U.S. official discussed with him (Zaeef) the issues of Osama bin Laden and UN sanctions mandating monitoring mechanism," The News reported.

While the U.S. official was of the opinion that sanctions would not be necessary if the Taliban extradite bin Laden and close down alleged training camps, the Taliban envoy again asked the U.S. administration to provide evidence of bin Laden's involvement in terrorism, the report said.

During the meeting, Zaeef conveyed the distaste of Taliban regime towards the unilateral sanctions imposed on Afghanistan by the United Nations Security Council, which, he said, would only further fuel the conflict inside Afghanistan.

Rocca left Pakistan yesterday after a two-week trip to South Asia which will form the basis of a policy review of the troubled region, officials said.

Rocca met senior officials in India, Nepal and Pakistan, as well as the Afghan Taliban militia's ambassador in Islamabad, in her first visit since becoming the Bush administration's top policymaker for South Asia.

Her first stop was India, whose prominence in U.S. policy has been growing, although Rocca stressed that Washington's interest in better relations with New Delhi would not come at the expense of Islamabad.

India and Pakistan revealed their nuclear capability in 1998, prompting U.S. sanctions and warnings from Washington that South Asia was the "most dangerous place in the world".

The rival neighbours are still bitterly opposed over the divided Himalayan state of Kashmir, but held summit-level talks last month for the first time in more than two years.

The meeting between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ended without agreement on a joint declaration, but Rocca was optimistic that at least both sides were willing to talk.

Rocca also hinted that U.S. sanctions over India and Pakistan's nuclear programmes could be eased, but said those slapped against Islamabad after General Musharraf's 1999 military coup were not open for discussion until democracy was restored.

"Non-proliferation remains an important goal of U.S. policy," Rocca said in regard to relations with India. "But we want to expand and transform our engagement on defence issues, talking more about potential areas of cooperation while continuing to narrow our differences."

Rocca said Washington wanted to rebuild the Pakistani relationship which has suffered over the 1998 nuclear tests, the coup and Islamabad's support for the Taliban.