Jack Straw has repeated calls for the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden and outlined how Britain is leading the "step change" against terrorism.

The foreign secretary told the Commons on Thursday that the fate of Afghanistan's rulers was in their own hands.

"Whether the Taliban becomes a target is essentially a matter for them not for us," he told MPs.

Following the prime minister's statement to the Commons, Straw said the conditions set out by President Bush must be met in full by the Taliban. "These objectives, Mr Speaker, are not up for negotiation," he warned.

He again compared the current crisis to the events leading up to the Second World War and the fight against fascism. The foreign secretary echoed Tony Blair's party conference speech saying there would be no compromise with the people responsible for the terror attacks in America.

"There can be no possibility of reasoning with people who have no reasonable demands," he said. "Our aim is not revenge but the complete removal of the threat of terrorism to our values and our way of life."

Straw said Britain was not fighting against Islam or the people forced to live under the Taliban's rule. "None of us have any quarrel with the people of Afghanistan. They have suffered more than anyone for the wickedness of the Taleban regime," he said.

He went on to pledge that Britain would work to rebuild Afghanistan after the current crisis had passed and gave details of how Clare Short's International Development Department was leading the humanitarian relief effort.

"Our help to the Afghan people must go beyond this. They have the right to expect to expect a peaceful and secure future," he said.

Answering a question from the floor of the House, the foreign secretary repeated calls for Middle East nations to recognise the right of Israel to a peaceful existence and also for the establishment of a Palestinian state. He defended his remarks while on his visit to Israel in which he had referred to Palestine.

"This has long been the position of the British government," he said. "I made it absolutely clear at the time and I made no apology. I didn't retract what I said."

He reported on the progress made in forming the alliance expected to respond to the terror attacks. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have withdrawn links with Taliban and the G8 is bringing forward measures to fight terrorism funding. The EU is set to introduce common extradition proceedings and Britain had been asked to chair a UN committee to oversee progress on global anti-terrorism measures.

Summing up, Straw said a short conflict against those involved in the events of September 11 was unlikely.

"In this fight against terrorism and this evil, we face a long struggle. But we will win because we are defending the values of humanity," he said.

For the Conservatives, shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said Britain must fight the "germ" of terrorism.

"Bin Laden must be the first objective, along with his friends and supporters. But the fight against international terrorism will have only been begun once that objective has been achieved," he said.

Ancram urged the government to ignore "siren calls" for retaliation to end with the overthrowing of the Taleban.

"We must let those who stand beside us know that we stand with them until the cause is won," he said. "We must leave the terrorists no hiding place, no safe house, no place where their friends and supporters can give them shelter and protection."

He described the followers of Osama Bin Laden of showing "a viciousness and a lack of human values that we have never seen before".

"If we do not destroy that enemy, tomorrow it will be us," he warned.

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, spoke of his outrage at the attack and spoke of the victims of the tragedy.

"The events of September 11 were an evil atrocity planned in cold blood," he said adding the attackers had shown "an amoral disregard for human life".

It is grotesque to suggest that a four-year-old girl making her first and only flight on a plane could be responsible for a government she had never voted either for or against," he said.

Admitting his past criticisms of US policy, Campbell called for a halt to criticising the US. "I hope we will put an end to some of the crude anti-Americanism that has been seen in some comment," he said before commending the US government for not starting immediate retaliations. "It is a measure of the maturity of the Bush administration that this has not happened."