KABUL, Afghanistan?Four weeks into the U.S.-led air campaign, a senior Taliban official said Wednesday the ruling militia is willing to negotiate an end to the conflict. But he demanded proof of Osama bin Laden’s involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“That’s the message for Americans,” chief Taliban spokesman Amir Khan Muttaqi said in an interview with the first Western reporter allowed into Kabul since the bombing began Oct. 7.

“We do not want to fight,” Muttaqi said. “We will negotiate. But talk to us like a sovereign country. We are not a province of the United States, to be issued orders to. We have asked for proof of Osama’s involvement, but they have refused. Why?”

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Taliban already had plenty of proof.