Ashcroft Warns of More Attacks

As the Bush administration rejects an overture by Afghanistan's Taliban government, Attorney General John Ashcroft is warning of a "very serious threat" of additional terrorist attacks.

A Taliban envoy said discussions might be possible to ease the impasse over Usama bin Laden if the United States offers evidence linking him to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. White House chief of staff Andrew Card replied that "the president has said we're not negotiating."

"They've got to turn not only Usama bin Laden over but all the operatives of the Al Qaeda organization" that bin Laden runs, Card said on Fox News Sunday.

With little sign of anything besides a military solution in sight, Ashcroft said that "we believe there are others who may be in the country who would have plans" for more attacks.

"Frankly, as the United States responds, that threat may escalate," Ashcroft said on CBS' Face the Nation.

"We're very confident that Usama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, terrorist organizations are operating in dozens and dozens and dozens of countries around the world," Ashcroft added on CNN's Late Edition.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar told his people in a radio address not to worry about a U.S. attack because "Americans don't have the courage to come here."

As for bin Laden, "He's in a place which cannot be located by anyone," Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told journalists in Islamabad.

In Afghanistan, opposition forces maintain that they've gained territory and that hundreds of Taliban soldiers defected during three days of fighting in northern mountains.

The U.S. government turned to defense at home, designating retired Army Gen. Wayne Downing to coordinate intelligence and military resources in the anti-terror campaign. Richard Clarke, who currently heads the government's counterterrorism team, will direct efforts to protect the nation's information infrastructure from attack.

Clarke and Downing will serve President Bush at the National Security Council, working alongside Tom Ridge, who was tapped by Bush to head a newly created Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security.