The Pakistani government will send a delegation into neighboring Afghanistan today to demand that the Taliban surrender Osama bin Laden to the United States—or risk massive retaliatory action, a top administration official reported.

President George W. Bush publicly identified bin Laden yesterday as the prime suspect in Tuesday’s attacks.

The Taliban will be told the international community is prepared to attack Afghanistan if the radical Muslim militia refuses to turn bin Laden over, the official said.

There was no indication the Taliban would be given a deadline, the Associated Press reported. The New York Times, without citing a source, indicated that the deadline would be “swift.”

The high-level delegation is to travel to the Taliban’s headquarters in the southern city of Kandahar, the official said yesterday on condition of anonymity. Pakistan’s asserted “full support” of the United States and their allies will not include Pakistani military action.

“Pakistan does not expect in anyway to participate in any military operation outside its borders,” Foreign Minister Abdul Satter told a group of reporters Saturday.

As Bush brushed off bin Laden’s reported denial of responsibility, senior administration officials stepped up their call to arms yesterday.

“We will rid the world of evildoers,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.