Pakistan sent a group of high-ranking military officers to Afghanistan today to demand the Taliban government hand over the accused Osama bin Laden and his top associates to the United States or face almost certain U.S. military action. The group is led by one of the top officers in Pakistan’s military intelligence wing, which is thought to have unique intelligence on bin Laden’s operations in Afghanistan and his whereabouts. But Pakistani officials cautioned that the chance of the Taliban bowing to the American demand is slim. The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has already said in a defiant, war-like radio speech on Friday, he believed handing over bin Laden would not spare Afghanistan from a U.S. attack. The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, agreed to relay the ultimatum after days of intensive discussions with U.S. officials. General Musharraf reportedly assured President Bush, in a telephone call on Saturday, that Pakistan would allow the use of its airspace and airfields if needed, as well as full access to Pakistani intelligence on bin Laden. According to the Pakistani officials, U.S. officials had told General Musharraf’s government that Washington would use every lever, short of war, to punish Pakistan unless it cooperated. General Musharraf was said to have made a number of demands in return for Pakistan’s cooperation, including an end to economic sanctions imposed by Washington after Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998, the lifting of an American ban on weapon sales, a pledge that Washington would assist Pakistan’s battered economy by encouraging generous treatment by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and a shift in Pakistan’s favor in its dispute with India over the Kashmir region. Meanwhile, Pakistani civilians gathered to protest their government’s collaboration with the United States.