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Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
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Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged European countries to end their military cooperation with US forces in Afghanistan, in an audio tape aired by Al Jazeera television on Thursday.
He said American power was waning and it would be wise for the Europeans to quickly end their role in Afghanistan, where many European countries contribute to the 50,000-strong NATO and US-led coalition forces.
"With the grace of God ... the American tide is receding and they would eventually return to their home across the Atlantic ... It is in your interest to force the hand of your politicians (away from) the White House," said bin Laden.
In Washington, a US counterterrorism official said the voice on the audio tape appeared to be bin Laden's. It was not immediately clear when the new message was recorded.
The United States led the invasion of Afghanistan to depose its Taliban rulers in late 2001, after they refused to hand over bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Bin Laden did not make any threat in the portions of the recording aired by Jazeera. The full tape is yet to be released by an Islamist Web site.
In the portions aired by Jazeera, bin Laden said the Taliban had no knowledge of plans for the 2001 attacks.
"I am the one responsible... The Afghan people and government knew nothing whatsoever about these events," he said, adding that the United States had not provided any evidence of Taliban involvement to justify its invasion.
"Europe marched behind it with no choice but to be a lackey," bin Laden said.
"I'm addressing you (Europeans) and not your politicians ... (who) like to be in the shadow of the White House as many world leaders," he said, naming current and former leaders of Britain, France, Spain and Italy, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The United States has been urging its NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan, but European nations remain reluctant to commit further reinforcements.
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(Agencies)
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卡塔爾半島電視臺于本周四公布了基地組織頭目奧薩馬?本?拉登的一盤最新錄音帶，本?拉登在其中敦促歐洲國家停止與美國在阿富汗的軍事“合作”。
本?拉登說，美國在阿富汗的影響力正逐漸減弱，歐洲國家應認清現實，盡快從阿富汗撤軍。目前，由北約及美國領導的駐阿富汗“國際安全援助部隊”已達到5萬人，很多歐洲國家向該地區投入了兵力。
本?拉登說：“感謝上帝……美國的影響力已在逐漸減弱，他們最終會撤回大西洋彼岸的老家去……你們最好勸你們的領導人別再當美國的‘跟班’了。”
白宮的一位“反恐”官員稱，錄音帶中的聲音酷似本?拉登，但目前還不清楚這盤錄音帶是何時錄制的。
“9?11”恐怖襲擊后，由于阿富汗“塔利班”拒絕向美國交出本?拉登及其他基地組織領導人，2001年底，美國發動阿富汗戰爭，推翻了塔利班政權。
本?拉登在整盤錄音中沒有發表任何威脅性言論。錄音帶將會在一個穆斯林網站上公布。
本?拉登稱，塔利班對2001年的恐怖襲擊計劃毫不知情。
他說：“一切都是我策劃的……與阿富汗政府和人民無關。”本?拉登還說美國至今沒能提供任何證據證明塔利班參與“9?11”事件，為其入侵阿富汗提出正當理由。
本·拉登嘲諷說：“歐洲跟在美國后面，乖乖地做了個‘跟班’。”
“我說這些是給你們（歐洲人民）聽的，而不是你們的領導人，他們與很多領導人一樣，甘受美國擺布。”本·拉登在錄音中提到了英國前任首相（布萊爾）和現任首相戈登?布朗、法國總統薩科奇、以及西班牙和意大利總理。
美國一直要求北約向阿富汗增派部隊，但歐洲一些國家一直按兵不動。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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