ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement said on Tuesday it had assured the United States that Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, one of America's most wanted men, had no plans to attack Americans.
The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan told a news conference in Islamabad the assurance was in a letter sent on Monday replying to a Washington warning last week it would hold the Taliban responsible for any attack on Americans by followers of the Afghan-based bin Laden."Osama, whom America has projected as an important figure, neither has any plans nor can he carry out such plans from the Afghan territory against any one," ambassador Sayed Mohammad Haqqani quoted the Taliban letter to the United States as saying.
The United States delivered the warning to the Taliban on Dec. 13 after Jordan arrested 13 men who it said were in the early stages of planning "terrorist" operations in the kingdom after receiving military training in Afghanistan.
Last week Pakistan also extradited to Amman an arrested Jordanian man, Khalil al-Deek, suspected of belonging to a ring loyal to bin Laden that Jordan said was planning attacks around the end of the year.
The Taliban told Washington in its letter that it had no knowledge about the arrests or whether the arrested men had made any confessions, Haqqani said.
"However, we are confident of one thing . . . that Osama carries (out) no activities," the Taliban embassy's English translation of the Pashtu-language letter said.
Meanwhile, in Washington, local and federal officials are increasing security around the city, even as they invite hundreds of thousands of revelers to celebrate the new millennium.
As part of the preparations, city officials have designated more than 145 street intersections that will be manned by law enforcement officers. And the nation's capital has been divided into patrol regions so that public safety personnel are within walking distance of any residence or building.
"We would be less than responsible if we didn't take some precautions," D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said Monday.
The Metropolitan Police Department's 3,520 officers will work extended shifts throughout New Year's weekend, with the D.C. National Guard and the Defense Department also playing security roles.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that there are potential terrorist targets here," Ramsey said. But officials continued to encourage people not to disrupt their New Year's plans.