Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, would stay neutral in any US-led attack against Afghanistan's Taliban, its defence minister said on Friday.

While Indonesia has condemned last month's hijack air assaults on Washington and New York, it has been reluctant to throw its full weight behind an international coalition supporting US President George W. Bush's war on terrorism. "Our government's stance is not to take sides if there is conflict between Afghanistan and the US," Defence Minister Matori Abdul Djalil told reporters.

Some Muslim nations and community leaders have voiced fears Washington's self-declared war on terrorism could turn into a war against Islam and its one billion followers around the globe. Djalil warned Indonesians not to join a holy war against America, because it was too risky. "We will not approve it because it will endanger their lives there."

Radical Islamic groups in Indonesia have vowed to fight a holy war against America if Washington launches strikes against the Taliban, and hundreds have registered to take part. "We will not accept people ... volunteering," Djalil said.

Chief Security Minister Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono was quoted on Friday as saying Indonesia would support a war which was effective in fighting terrorism but did not threaten world peace. "Any such action should not lead to another humanitarian tragedy," Yudhoyono was quoted in the Jakarta Post as saying.

He also warned Indonesians against joining a war on the United States. "The act of physically taking part in a foreign war is not acceptable," he said. "Indonesians can only take part in foreign military operations as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force."

Frightened expatriates have begun leaving Indonesia following threats from radical groups to round up Americans if Washington exacts revenge. The influential Indonesian Council of Ulemas, the umbrella group of Muslim clerics, has condemned both attacks on the United States and any retaliation against a Muslim country. Around 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people follow Islam.