Taliban - U.S. lacks courage to attack

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The leader of Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban told his people Sunday not to worry about U.S. attacks on their country because Americans are cowards.

"Americans don't have the courage to come here," Mullah Mohammed Omar said in an interview broadcast by Taliban-controlled Kabul Radio. He urged Afghans to remain calm and go about their business without trying to flee cities that might be targets of U.S. air strikes.

The United States has threatened military action against Afghanistan unless the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, whom the Americans consider the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Bin Laden has denied any role in the attacks, and Afghan authorities say the United States has offered no proof to back up its allegations against the exiled Saudi dissident. The Taliban said Sunday that bin Laden in under their "control" in a secret location and offered negotiations with the United States, something Washington refused.

During the interview, Omar repeatedly warned the United States to "think and think again" about attacking his country, which drove out Soviet invaders with U.S. assistance in the 1979-1989 war.

"If you attack us, there will be no difference between you and the Russians," the Taliban leader said. "We are peace-loving and we hate terrorism. The murder of one person is the same as the murder of all humanity."

Omar instead blamed the Sept. 11 attacks on American policies -- without stating which ones.