Bin Laden tape tells Europe to not aid U.S.

CAIRO —  Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the Afghanistan war, according to excerpts of an audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al Jazeera television.

Bin Laden called it unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying he was the “only one responsible.”

The message appeared to be another attempt by Bin Laden to influence public opinion in the West.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the new tape as typical of Bin Laden’s tactics and said that “our NATO allies understand quite clearly what is at stake in Afghanistan.”