SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2001
Iran rejects Taliban role in future Afghan govt
DUSHANBE: Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi ruled out a role for moderate Taliban leaders in a future Afghan government in talks Friday with Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov.
The Taliban have "a dark past and have no place in the future government of Afghanistan," he told reporters after meeting the Tajik president in Dushanbe.
He stressed however that the Taliban fundamentalist militia should not be identified exclusively with the country's Pushtun ethnic majority which, he said, should be represented in the future Afghan government.
"Afghanistan's future lies in creating a broad-based government that would include all ethnic groups, without any external influence," Kharazi said.
Kharazi arrived in Dushanbe Friday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan with Rakhmonov and other top officials from the Central Asia region.
Tehran fears that if the Taliban regime is overthrown in the wake of US-led attacks, either a pro-American government under the former king Mohammed Zahir Shah or a pro-Pakistani regime under moderate elements of the Taliban could be installed in Kabul.
Kharazi and Rakhmonov discussed the wider threat to regional security posed by the war in Afghanistan as well as humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the conflict.
"As a neighbour of Afghanistan, Iran hopes to see peace established as soon as possible in a country whose people have suffered from war for too many years," the Iranian foreign minister said earlier.
Kharazi also slammed as unacceptable the methods employed by the US-led coalition to battle the Taliban, as the "US tactics in Afghanistan involve unjustified civilian casualties."
Rakhmonov in his turn ruled out the possibility that Tajikistan might offer bases for Washington's use in the campaign, saying that placing more troops and ammunition in areas surrounding Afghanistan "could lead to more instability."
Kharazi was also due to meet Russian Emergency Situation Minister Sergei Shoigu, who arrived in Dushanbe Friday for talks with counterparts from Tajikstan and other Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union.
The emergency ministers discussed the humanitarian campaign aimed at delivering aid to Afghan civilians, which was fast becoming "long-term and large-scale," Shoigu said. Shoigu stressed the need for prompt delivery as aid flows increased and stressed that winter was fast coming.
He noted that trains filled with Russian aid would start arriving in Tajikistan in three days.
Russia is contributing to the international humanitarian campaign that embraces countries like the United States and Britain and international aid agencies.
( AFP )
Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.