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Taliban Loses a Supporter

By Mohammad Bazzi | Staff Correspondent

Peshawar, Pakistan -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement suffered a diplomatic blow yesterday when it lost the support of one of the three countries that recognize it.

The United Arab Emirates severed its ties with the Taliban over its refusal to surrender Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, whom the United States has named as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. That leaves Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as the only countries that have diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Pakistan's president has pledged to cooperate with the United States in a potential military strike against Afghanistan.

It was another sign that world pressure is rising against the hard-line Islamic movement, which has ruled most of Afghanistan since 1996 but has remained an international pariah.

"The Taliban are becoming more isolated every day, said Shireen Mazari, director of Pakistan's Institute of Strategic Studies. "What kind of support does the Taliban have when one of its few friends, Pakistan, has promised to help wage a military campaign against it?

In Pakistan, a second day of protests by Taliban supporters fizzled with only a few hundred people attending demonstrations in several cities. A protest planned for the capital, Islamabad, was canceled at the last minute. A general strike called by a coalition of fundamentalist Muslim groups did not take hold.

The demonstrations and strike were the first test of strength for those opposed to President Pervez Musharraf's decision to help the United States track down bin Laden. The low turnout suggests that, at least for now, Musharraf is retaining more support than his opponents anticipated.

Pakistani religious leaders are angry that Musharraf offered to help the United States in ways that could lead to a military attack against a friendly, neighboring Muslim country. Washington has pressed Musharraf to share intelligence on bin Laden and the Taliban. And if the United States makes an eventual strike against Afghanistan, it wants Pakistani logistical support and the use of Pakistan's airspace and land.

Analysts say the protests appeared to have been dampened by two events: Musharraf's televised address to the nation Wednesday, which appeared to go over well with many middle-class Pakistanis; and an edict Thursday by a council of more than 1,000 Muslim clerics in Afghanistan encouraging bin Laden to leave the country voluntarily.

But analysts note that any U.S. attack against Afghanistan likely would bring far more Pakistanis onto the streets.

"Musharraf is treading on dangerous ground, said Rasul Rais, a professor in the department of defense and strategic studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. "If there is a military attack, the situation in Pakistan could change rapidly. People who might be on the sidelines now could decide that America is unfairly targeting the Taliban.

Here in Peshawar, a conservative border city that has been a hotbed of opposition to Musharraf's decision to cooperate with the United States, about 500 people marched through the streets yesterday shouting pro-Taliban and pro-bin Laden slogans. The crowd burned an American flag and an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush, as has become customary in most recent protests in Pakistan.

The low turnout did not deter protesters from making fiery pronouncements.

"If America attacks the Taliban, it will be an attack on Muslims all over the world, said Sharif Nawaz, 23, a student at one of the hundreds of Islamic academies in Peshawar. "America should not underestimate the power and faith of the Muslim people.

As Nawaz spoke, he was surrounded by a group of men who nodded their heads in agreement and occasionally interjected shouts of "Long live bin Laden!

Bashir Khan, a 52-year-old shopkeeper, said when the Taliban talk about responding to an American attack with a jihad, or holy war, it doesn't mean they will resort to terror.

"We have to show the world that jihad is not terrorism, said Khan, who like most other protesters wore a beard and the traditional loose, cotton shirt and trousers called shalwar-kameez. "What the people did in those attacks on America was terrorism, but what America is going to do against Afghanistan is also terrorism.

The decision by the United Arab Emirates to cut its relations with the Taliban took effect immediately, and the government ordered Taliban diplomats to leave the country within 24 hours. The UAE, a small oil-producing state and commercial hub in the Persian Gulf, said it cut relations after failing to persuade the Taliban to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for bin Laden's handover.

"The United Arab Emirates does not believe that it is possible to continue to maintain diplomatic relations with a government that refuses to respond to the clear will of the international community, a foreign ministry official told the government-owned Emirates News Agency.

The Taliban has controlled about 90 percent of Afghanistan since 1996. Its main ally, Pakistan, immediately recognized it as the legitimate ruler. In 1997, the UAE followed neighboring Saudi Arabia in recognizing the Taliban. Almost all other countries recognize the government-in-exile of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose Northern Alliance forces control an estimated 10 percent of Afghanistan.

"At this point, the Taliban needs all the friends it can get, Rais said. "But no one is going to stand up to the United States to protect an outcast regime.