WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A week after nightmare attacks in New York and Washington which left more than 5,000 people dead or missing, Afghanistan ( news - web sites ) gave mixed signals over the fate of prime suspect Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites ), whom President Bush ( news - web sites ) said he wants "dead or alive."
Some reports said the Afghanistan's ruling Taliban might be prepared to hand over the Saudi-born exile under certain conditions, including trial in a neutral Islamic country.
As many Americans observed a moment of silence at 8:48 a.m. EDT, exactly one week after the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center, investors held their breath to see if U.S. share prices would again plunge on Tuesday after Wall Street suffered its largest point loss ever.
Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said Bush was considering direct financial aid to help U.S. airlines reeling from the fallout of last week's aerial attacks on New York and Washington.
Airline shares suffered the heaviest selling on Monday. With layoffs already under way, airline executives were due to meet with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta ( news - web sites ) on Tuesday to review a request for $24 billion in government aid.
While Bush sought to build a strong international coalition for a possible attack on Afghanistan, which harbors bin Laden as a "guest," some world leaders who condemned the attacks sounded alarm bells at the prospect of American military strikes.
Washington's NATO ( news - web sites ) allies have generally voiced full support for declared war on terrorism, but China said any U.S. military action should avoid harming innocent people and should respect international law.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ( news - web sites ), whose country is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, has also said the United States should think twice before taking military action that would kill civilians.
And Germany, a key U.S. ally voiced caution. "We need to react with a cool head," Joschka Fischer said.
Reports in Pakistani newspapers raised the possibility that the Taliban could be ready for negotiations.
The Taliban might be prepared to give bin Laden up under certain conditions, according to the reports in the Nation and Jang newspapers. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The conditions included the trial of bin Laden in a neutral Islamic country, lifting of U.N. sanctions against the Taliban, economic assistance and suspension of foreign aid and military supplies to the Afghan opposition, said the reports.
But a senior Afghan cleric also said the Taliban would launch a "jihad" or holy war against the United States if it attacks militarily, although officials of the Islamic movement quickly said the final decision lay with a council of clerics due to convene this week.
That council on Tuesday postponed for 24 hours a discussion on the fate of bin Laden. A Pakistani delegation is in the Afghan capital of Kabul, trying to convince the Taliban it must hand over bin Laden or face a U.S. strike.
Washington has been rallying an international coalition for a war on "terrorism" after three hijacked airliners reduced to rubble the twin towers of the World Trade Center, a symbol of U.S. financial might, and wrecked a wing of the Pentagon ( news - web sites ), headquarters of America's powerful military. Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers reportedly overpowered the hijackers.
Preparing the nation for a long, hard war and vowing justice for those killed in the coordinated assaults Bush issued a warning to the Taliban.
"All I can tell you is that Osama bin Laden is a prime suspect, and the people who house him, encourage him, provide food, comfort or money are on notice," Bush said, adding: "And the Taliban must take my statement seriously."
Governments around the world tightened security at borders, airports and military bases.
