Hawk! My dear Hawk... I need help from a sharpie like you.
How come the Taleban targeted the US instead of European/Russian cities although the main backer of their arch-enemy, namely Ahmad Shah Masood, is the European Union (and Russia)?!
You know how I HATE discrepancies (particularly when there're over 30,000 fatalities at stake)!
More coverage of the historic visit to Europe by Ahmad Shah Masood, supreme leader of Afghanistan's national resistance force
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Afghanistan's Masood says trip to the West a success
DUSHANBE, Apr 9 (Reuters) - Ahmad Shah Masood, commander of the armed resistance to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement, arrived in Tajikistan on Monday after what he described as a successful mission to the West.
On his arrival in the capital Dushanbe, Masood was given a hero's welcome by hundreds of compatriots, who applauded and held up pictures of him.
"I had a lot of useful contacts during my visit to France," Masood, kept behind a tight chain of bodyguards, told reporters in Dushanbe airport on his arrival from Paris.
"I am very satisfied with my trip."
Masood, whose forces of the Northern Alliance remain loyal to ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani but control only 10 percent of Afghan territory, made a rare trip to the West last week.
During his visits to Paris and the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the veteran commander urged the world community to put pressure on Pakistan to stop backing the Taliban and condemned the destruction of giant Buddha statues by the purist movement.
"In the European Parliament, I raised questions of the necessity of putting pressure on Pakistan and of delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan," Masood said.
Masood, whose programme in the ex-Soviet state bordering Afghanistan and China was kept secret, is expected to give a news conference on Tuesday.
The 47-year-old charismatic commander became widely known in the 1980s as the "Lion of Panjsher" for successful resistance to Soviet efforts to seize his strategic stronghold north of the Afghan capital Kabul.
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Give us support but not weapons, says Afghanistan's Massood
Strasbourg (Deutsche Presse Agentur) - Afghanistan's Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massood Thursday appealed for diplomatic support for his struggle against the Taliban but ruled out the need for foreign military aid. "We do not need foreign troops or advisors," Massood said after talks with European Parliament president Nicole Fontaine in the French city of Strasbourg.
"Our people are ready to fight," he said. Massood, currently on a first visit to Europe following an invitation by
Fontaine, pressed for a tougher E.U. policy on Pakistan, viewed as the Taliban's main backers.
"Without Pakistan's support, the Taliban's military campaign would not even last a year," Massood insisted, warning that the Kabul regime wanted to extend its influence in the entire region.
Adding her voice to Massood's appeal, Fontaine said she was sending a solemn message to Pakistan: "Stop providing
assistance to the fanatic and obscurantist" regime in Kabul.
Europe must now grant "political recognition to Commander Massood and his moderate version of Islam," she said.
Massood is set to bring his anti-Taliban campaign to Brussels on Friday in talks scheduled with European Union
security chief Javier Solana and Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel.
Discussions on aid issues in Afghanistan are also expected with the head of the European Union's humanitarian aid
office, ECHO.
But the European Commission, the E.U.'s executive arm, has said that political discussions will not take place with
Massood.
The E.U. has no political relations with the Taliban government, currently recognised only by Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
But the E.U.'s humanitarian aid agency, ECHO, is involved in several multi-million dollar emergency aid operations
throughout the country, with the focus on helping vulnerable groups including women and children.
This has prompted concerns that open European Commission support for Massood's Northern Alliance could anger the
Taliban and endanger E.U.- backed humanitarian aid projects in large parts of Afghanistan.
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Belgium promises Afghan aid
BBC, Apr 8
The Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel, has said his country will increase its humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
Speaking after a meeting in Brussels with the anti-Taleban commander, Ahmad Shah Masood, Mr Michel also criticised Pakistan for its support of the Taleban authorities, calling its policy misguided.
Mr Michel -- whose country takes up the presidency of the European Union in July -- said the situation in Afghanistan should become a permanent item on the EU's agenda.
Mr Masood has been visiting European capitals in an effort to get support to the anti-Taleban opposition.
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Extracted from:
omaid.com |
