Pakistan, the only country keeping diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's Taliban, has said it had not lost all hope they will surrender Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Pakistan had no intention of severing diplomatic relations with the isolated Taliban government, now under threat of US military strikes.
He spoke on the same day Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf told the BBC that the Taliban's days appeared numbered because the radical Islamic movement would not hand over bin Laden.
"Whatever hope is left, whatever possibilities exist, we will certainly remain engaged to see these possibilities are expended and some kind of diplomatic effort succeeds with the Taliban government," Pakistani spokesman Mr Riaz Mohammad Khan told a news briefing.
Pakistan is now the only country hosting a Taliban embassy. The only other countries that had diplomatic ties with Kabul - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - cut off relations last month for the Taliban's refusal to hand over bin Laden.
Mr Khan said Pakistan was not contemplating similar action despite President Musharraf's statement yesterday that his government had failed in moderating the Taliban's refusal to surrender bin Laden. The Taliban say he is under their control.
We cannot afford the luxury of insulating ourselves from Afghanistan, he said.