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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (632)	10/15/2001 1:20:56 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15516

Afghan Opposition details plans for Kabul ROBYN DIXON From The Times of India Monday, October 15, 2001 KABAL-US-SARAJ(Afghanistan): Assessing the military situation on the ground after a week of US airstrikes, anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan said Saturday they expect to be in control of the capital, Kabul, before Ramadan, the Muslim holiday about a month away. But their plans to capture Kabul hang on US bombing of the Taliban’s front-line positions, which they say they anticipate in coming days. With delicate negotiations underway about the kind of government that would replace the extremist Islamic regime in Afghanistan, Abdullah, the foreign minister for the opposition Northern Alliance, spelled out the rebels’ plans for control of the capital. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, he said the only way to dislodge the Taliban is a major assault by the Northern Alliance to break through the front line north of Kabul. After that was accomplished, a Northern Alliance security commission, with representatives of the army, police and internal security, immediately would move in to Kabul to fill the vacuum left by the Taliban and enforce law and order, he said. All this, he predicted, would be in place by the beginning of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November. ``The situation could change very quickly. I don’t see the possibility of Taliban resistance keeping everybody out of Kabul for a long time," Abdullah said. ``If they’re defeated on the front line, they’ll withdraw from Kabul very soon." Abdullah said it would take 48 hours to mobilise 10,000 men for an attack on Kabul. He warned that the initial military force in the city might need to be substantial to deter any Taliban counterattack. Abdullah also warned of an administrative vacuum after the fall of the Taliban and said the former United Front government that he represents, which retains Afghanistan’s UN seat, would be appropriate to administer in the short term ^ a solution unlikely to be acceptable to the country’s Pushtun majority. The Taliban draws much of its support from Pushtuns; the Northern Alliance is dominated by members of the country’s ethnic Uzbek and Tajik minorities. Asked whether the Northern Alliance would move out of the city if a UN peacekeeping force was sent in, Abdullah said the United Nations does have a role to play in peacekeeping or reconstruction. But he insisted that the United States and its allies must discuss the question with forces in Afghanistan. ``They should have started discussions with us," he said. Rejecting Taliban claims that the regime’s forces had launched attacks on Northern Alliance positions in recent days, Abdullah asserted that the Taliban no longer is capable of launching counterattacks. He said the Taliban is short of supplies and ammunition and has lost its air capacity and command systems because of the US strikes. The main supply line from Kabul to the north was severed when more than 1,000 Taliban fighters swapped sides in recent days and cut off an important road. Northern Alliance commanders have complained that US airstrikes haven’t hit the Taliban hard enough, but Abdullah said the bombing campaign has been effective. Abdullah denied reports that the Northern Alliance had made a deal with the United States not to attack Kabul until a political solution was found and said America had sought no such agreement. ``In this country, superpowers like the Soviet Union and mini-superpowers like Pakistan have all tried to impose a solution on Afghanistan. No country should try to do that," Abdullah said. Abdullah pointedly noted that Russia had been a more supportive ally to the Northern Alliance than the United States, and he warned against attempts to impose a solution on Afghanistan that suited the interests of Pakistan but not Afghans. He expressed thinly veiled disdain for the role of the former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, although he said the king could play a part in reforming the country. The Northern Alliance has agreed to proposals for a 120-member supreme council for national unity, half selected by the king and half from within Afghanistan, to convene a traditional ``loya jirga," or grand council, of Afghans. The loya jirga would have a mandate to form a provisional government to run the country for two years. But Abdullah said the balance of the supreme council for national unity is highly sensitive and there is still lot of work to be done on its composition. timesofindia.com.