Mullah Umar, who has so far vigorously denied bin Laden's involvement in the bombings of American embassies in East Africa, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that Afghanistan could not have two Governments.

"It was for the Taliban Government to take appropriate action in connection with the violation of the Afghan territory," he said.

The English-language daily The News had reported on Saturday that bin Laden, in a message read by an Egyptian colleague of his, had said "the war has just started and the Americans should wait for an answer." This message was prominently reported by the world media yesterday.

Laden, a Saudi millionaire who has allegedly funded many terrorist groups, has been living in Afghanistan under Taliban's protection eversince he was made to leave Sudan two years ago. In May, he held a press conference in Khost and announced the formation of an International Islamic Front against Israel and America, embarrassing host Taliban who had been claiming bin Laden was not involved in any political or militant activity.

Taliban said they were not aware of the press conference.

Mullah Umar told the BBC that bin Laden will be told not to issue such statements and exploit the hospitality extended to him in Afghanistan.

In the meantime, the public fury one witnessed in Pakistan on Friday against the American missile strikes in Afghanistan has subsided quite a lot although newspapers were filled with statements condemning the missile strikes.

Significantly, national political parties have abstained from exploiting the missile attacks on terrorist camps in Afghanistan. It is the Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i-Islam (these two run a number of madrassas in Pakistan to teach militancy) and some smaller Islamic groupswhich have led protests against the American action.

These parties have targeted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the American strike. On Friday, a rally of Jamaat-i-Islami women wing led by Jamaat's chief Qazi Hussain's wife in Lahore held Sharif responsible for the missile attacks. They said the attack came at a time when Sharif's younger brother Shahbaaz Sharif was in America. At the same time, Sharif addressed a small group of his partymen in Lahore to clear his position. He said he had no pre-knowledge of the American attack.