THE Taliban last night confirmed that a message has been sent to Osama bin Laden asking him to leave Afghanistan.

With speculation mounting that US coalition forces are moving closer to military strikes, Taliban sources revealed the terrorist leader was still inside Afghanistan.

The request that he leave the war-ravaged country was made last week by a council of clerics, or the Ulema, during a meeting in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Later, however, the ruling Taliban said it could not find Saudi-born bin Laden to inform him of the decision.

But last night, it said a messenger had reached his remote hideaway to deliver the religious ruling, or fatwa.

"Osama has now received the Ulema council's recommendations and their endorsement" by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, said the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.

"We have not lost Osama but he is out of sight of the people. I have no reason to believe that Osama has left Afghanistan. He is still here."

Zaeef did not say how the message was conveyed or where bin Laden was hiding. Neither did he indicate bin Laden's reaction to the message.

The US suspects bin Laden of orchestrating the attacks in New York and Washington, and has ordered the Taliban, which has been sheltering him for five years, to turn him over or face punishment.

The Taliban has so far refused to surrender him, and Pakistan, the only country with diplomatic ties to Afghanistan, has repeatedly tried to persuade the regime to co-operate.

No deadline for his departure was set in the original recommendation, which has been rejected as a way of playing for time by US officials.

A delegation of Pakistani religious parties is planning to travel to Afghanistan today or tomorrow.

Ameer ul-Azeem, a spokesman for Pakistan's biggest religious party, Jamiat Ullema Islami, said the religious leaders would try to persuade Afghanistan's government to hold indirect or direct talks with the US aimed at "resolving all disputes, especially the issue of Osama bin Laden".

The US has said the demand to hand over bin Laden is not negotiable.

In London, the Prime Minister warned last night that the fight against terrorism would be a long haul.

At a special Cabinet meeting, Tony Blair brought ministers up to date with the latest military, political, diplomatic and humanitarian developments in the crisis.

He told them the international coalition of support was strong and that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime could choose to hand over bin Laden or "face the consequences".

Earlier, the Prime Minister called for a "humanitarian coalition" to aid the Afghan people caught up in the crisis - and urged people in Britain to get on with their daily lives.

Mr Blair told his Cabinet that a massive humanitarian mobilisation was needed. He said an international humanitarian coalition needed to be built, just like the existing diplomatic coalition.