The United States is "not going to be deterred by comments" from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia that the whereabouts of wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden are unknown, US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.
"We are not going to be deterred by comments that he may be missing," Rice told Fox television. "We don't simply believe it."
Her remarks came shortly after a Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, was quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press as saying that bin Laden had disappeared.
Rice said Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime "is going to have to begin to understand it's got a very tough choice to make: It can hand over bin Laden ... or it can face the wrath of an international coalition that understands the Taliban has been harboring terrorists for a long time" -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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