You'll be our enemy, Blair warns Taliban
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Tony Blair today warned Afghanistan's Taliban rulers that they would be the enemy of Britain and its allies unless they hand over Osama bin Laden.
"Military conflict there will be unless the Taliban change and respond to the ultimatum given to them."
The Prime Minister, speaking to reporters in Downing Street, said: "The Taliban regime know exactly what they need to do. They could do it perfectly easily. They could act at any point in time. If they stand in the way of bringing Bin Laden to account, they are every bit as much our enemy as Bin Laden himself."
He added: "Bin Laden is one of the leading organisers and sponsors of terrorism in the world. But he is not the only one and he is not the only one operating out of Afghanistan. There are scores of these terrorist camps in Afghanistan, and they have been helped and supported and given succour by the Taliban regime.
"So it's not simply a question of them yielding up bin Laden, it is a question of them making sure that all those responsible for terrorism are yielded up and that those camps are closed down, and verifiably closed down."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments