Kelantan Mentri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat yesterday slammed the United States-led military strikes - on their fourth day now - against the Taliban in Afghanistan as a manifestation of the US' continual hostility towards Islam.

"The US hates the Taliban because the latter is firmly committed to upholding Islamic values. Osama bin Laden is just an excuse for the US, which has time and again shown its hostility towards Islam, to wage war against the religion," he said in Kota Bharu.

However, Nik Aziz, who is also the PAS spiritual adviser, admitted that he is quite unclear on what kind of Islamic administration the Taliban stand for.

Previously, he had said that there were many interpretations on what an Islamic state could be, and Afghanistan was just one version.

Different versions

"Just like there are differing versions of democracies, there are also differing versions on what an Islamic state is. For example, the US has a two-party system (Democrat and Republican), while the situation is different in Britain and France.

"Muslims need time in order to adapt Islam to meet the different needs of the various countries," he said.

However, in what was probably his first ever disapproving statement on the matter, Nik Aziz yesterday said: "Nevertheless, I'm against their decision to destroy the Bamiyan Buddhas."

In earlier interviews (right after the Taliban shelled the limestone statues that were listed as a World Heritage site), Nik Aziz had said that since the Taliban had never been treated fairly before, there was no reason why he should "stand up in defence of the statues".