Afghanistan's Taliban regime has accused the US of hounding it over the Islamic zealot Osama bin Laden. The Taliban authorities say the world's most wanted man, who lives in Afghanistan, has been turned into a hero by the US.
They also say that President Clinton bases his foreign policy "on his personal complexes and sexual illness".
The hardline Taliban movement is facing increasing international isolation for harbouring bin Laden, wanted in connection with a series of terrorist attacks around the world. In a surprise turnaround, the Islamic fundamentalist leadership has admitted that bin Laden is in Afghanistan with his heavily armed entourage. It had previously denied knowledge of the exiled Saudi millionaire's whereabouts.
The Taliban regime has said it will not bow to US demands for bin Laden's extradition. A spokesman said the movement, recognised as a government by only three states, has no extradition agreements with other countries.
Washington last week froze Taliban financial and property assets. It also placed economic sanctions on the regime which it accuses of providing "a safe haven and a base of operations" for bin Laden and his al-Quaida organisation.
One of the US's 10 most wanted men, bin Laden is sought in connection with last year's bomb attacks on US embassies in east Africa which killed 224 people. Two men, suspected of involvement in the attacks, appeared in court in London on Monday. To date 15 people have been charged in the US with plotting to murder US nationals in the bombings.
Bin Laden (44) has also been implicated in the bombing of New York's World Trade Centre in 1993 and of a US military base in Saudi Arabia in 1996. He has repeatedly promised to rid his birthplace of US forces. In a television interview recorded at the end of last year and broadcast recently he said he considered all US nationals legitimate targets for jihad, or holy war.
Bin Laden has escaped a number of assassination attempts. The most recent, according to intelligence sources in Pakistan, ended in the killing of all behind it.
Last year the US launched a cruise missile attack on suspected bin Laden bases in southern Afghanistan.
Further attacks have not been ruled out. The US last month said it had evidence that bin Laden and his associates were preparing for another strike, possibly in Africa. Both Britain and the US last month temporarily closed some of their embassies on the continent.
The Clinton administration is determined to hunt bin Laden down, while Britain has advocated a policy of containment whereby the alleged terrorist would be kept under wraps in remote Afghanistan.
In a desperate attempt to weed him out, the US has offered $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
Bin Laden has recently been spotted in the eastern town of Jalalabad, though he is known to move around constantly in order to evade detection.