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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HG who wrote (5955)	10/18/2001 2:11:00 AM
From: HG	Respond to of 281500

Iran rejects Pak-US Afghan solutions The News: Jang (Pakistan) October 18, 2001 afghan-web.com TEHRAN: Iran, hostile to the US-led attacks against Afghanistan as well as the ruling Taliban militia, refuses to accept any US-Pakistani "post-Taliban" solutions and talks from which it has been excluded. Tehran, whose ties with Washington were severed after the 1979 Islamic revolution, has implicitly criticised the US negotiations with Western and regional countries and appears particularly vexed by the regional tour of US Secretary of States Colin Powell to Pakistan and India. "The legal government" of ousted Afghan president Burhannudin Rabbani, which is support by Iran and linked to the Afghan opposition Northern Alliance, "should play a fundamental role in the future government" in Kabul, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said during talks on Tuesday with his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine. "The future government must be representative of all parties," Kharazi stressed, referring to a possible return of former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah which Washington favours, according to Tehran. Likewise, the reformist English-language Iran News in a commentary on Wednesday said "one possible reason for Powell's visit could be to pave the way for the return of the former Afghan monarch, Mohammed Zahir Shah, to his homeland." "The US should be careful not to again be deceived by the Pakistanis on the question of Afghanistan, and it is hoped that Powell is not swayed by the Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI)," the daily which supports moderate President Mohammad Khatami said. "The ISI is doing its utmost to disguise and conceal its atrocious past policies in Afghanistan and preserve and protect its future interests in that beleageerdd and long-suffering country by portraying the Northern Alliance as allied and associated to Russia and India, thereby eliminating or reducing its presence in any future Afghan government," it said. Iran shares a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan, and despite the many historical links between the two, Tehran is fiercely opposed to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia. But it also rejects joining hands with the United States in any attacks against a fellow Muslim nation. However the centrist Entekhab daily in a commentary on Wednesday outpointed that Tehran would have to be more innovative if it wants to have a say in the crisis. "Iran must accept this important reality that our wants and desires are not to be fully realised in Afghanistan. Therefore, in addition to condemning the US attacks on Afghanistan, it must affect the future government in Afghanistan by being creative in its actions and by making the best choice," the paper said. "After all these years, we should have learned that when forced to, we have to choose between 'bad' and 'even worse', and we should choose 'bad' otherwise we will be forced to accept even worse circumstances," it said. The ambassador of Rabbani's government to Tehran, Mohammad Kheirkhah, also insisted on an Iranian role in Afghanistan's future. "Pakistan wants to maintain the Taliban, speaking of the 'moderate' Taliban. It is continuing with its intervention, including military, and (Pakistani leader) General Pervez Musharraf is diplomatically very active," he said. "The Iranians, who do not want war, must also become very active," the diplomat told AFP. "Iran is our neighbour. It shelters more than two million (Afghan) refugees. For any problem, for any solution, Tehran's point of view counts," he said. "The European Union is very interested in the form which the future Afghan government will take and hopes that the government reestablishes peace and liberty as well as talks and friendly ties with its neighbours, including Iran and the international community," a European diplomat said. "The most worrying problems need to be solved: refugees, drug trafficking, insecurity on the borders. Iran as well as Pakistan are both concerned," he said.

To: HG who wrote (5955)	10/18/2001 10:36:40 AM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

U.S. Tactics Thwart Afghan Rebels nytimes.com "Playing around" may be what it looks like to the Northern Alliance, but there's a deeper game being played here, by all indications. I, for one, am impressed. When the time comes, the job will get done properly. TOPDARA, Afghanistan, Oct. 17 — The night, like the 10 before it, began with the same sense of expectation and ended with the same sense of disappointment. Soldiers in this rebel-held mountainside village watched American warplanes bomb the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the distance and ignore front-line Taliban positions in the valley below. An American plane raised hopes here Tuesday night by bombing the Barikab munitions dump on the Taliban side of the valley. But tonight the estimated 7,000 Taliban soldiers across the no man's land sat as they have since the bombing began — unchallenged. It appeared once again today that American military planners were worried that bombing the Taliban front-line positions here, just 35 miles north of Kabul, would open the door for Northern Alliance forces to take the Afghan capital. Pakistan, a vital American ally in the campaign against Osama bin Laden's network in Afghanistan, is strongly opposed to any move on Kabul by the alliance. The Northern Alliance is dominated by ethnic Tajiks from northern Afghanistan. The Taliban are dominated by ethnic Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan. Many Pashtuns also live in Pakistan.