U.N. SEEKS CUTBACK IN U.S.-LED AIR STRIKES.
The UN has reached an understanding with the US that the air strikes against Afghanistan will be limited until arrangements are in place for a UN-led transitional authority, the Financial Times (p.1) reports, citing diplomats in Tehran. The US-led coalition is said to understand the need to prevent the opposition Northern Alliance from advancing on Kabul until a political framework is put in place. Air strikes against Taliban front-line positions are likely to be limited for the time being, while diplomatic pressure is also applied to the Northern Alliance, according to the diplomats.
An outline for a transitional authority is now being presented to all parties, says the story. It provides for a one-year, UN-supervised interim administration made up of 12 Afghan ministers who would hold a rotating, figurehead presidency for one month each.
Also reporting, Le Figaro (France, p.2) says the plan has the support of both the US and Europeans, who seem to have convinced Iran as well. "We are all on the same wavelength," an Iranian Foreign Ministry official is quoted as saying.
The interim administration would be charged with organizing a loya jirga, a grand council of tribal, religious and political figures, to decide on Afghanistan's future, possibly involving elections at the end of the one-year period. There is broad agreement on the need for an international police body for the country, but no consensus yet on the composition of a peacekeeping force.
The Afghan representation in the interim administration would reflect the country's ethnic composition, a controversial issue in itself, says the FT. A UN insider said there was still debate over how influential a role the Afghan representatives would play, but there was a movement towards giving ultimate authority to the UN, possibly represented by Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan who is due to discuss the plan in Pakistan and Iran soon.
The news comes as the Wall Street Journal Europe (p.2) reports that a moderate Afghan leader yesterday convened a gathering of tribal elders in Peshawar in neighboring Pakistan, in an effort to initiate the political demise of the Taliban, but it may instead have exposed the Afghan opposition's deep rifts. The goal was to challenge the Taliban by establishing a 10-person leadership council led by the nation's exiled former King Mohammad Zahir Shah. However, none of his representatives attended the gathering, and few members of the Northern Alliance showed up. Key commanders from other groups also snubbed the affair.
In other news, British International Development Secretary Clare Short warned that the international aid effort for Afghan refugees was in serious danger because several countries had failed to pay up the cash they had promised, reports the Independent (UK). In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, Short said that of the $700 million pledged for the UN appeal for the country, only $70 million had been received to date.
"We urge other donors to turn pledges to the UN appeal quickly into actual payments," she said. "Although immediate needs are covered, unless pledges are received soon, ongoing operations will be hampered."
Short said that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was "fragile," but repeated her stance that a pause in the US-led bombing would not help. "It is not the case that a pause in the bombing would solve these problems. Indeed, a pause would simply encourage the Taliban to harass humanitarian supplies more than at present to prevent further military action," she said.
She then confirmed that the international community was looking at air drops and opening new land routes from neighboring countries.
Further, the Washington Post (p. A12) reports two key countries on Afghanistan's northern border have promised a top UN delegation they will accelerate the movement of relief supplies to help avert a grim humanitarian crisis emerging from drought and war, according to UN officials.
The president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, agreed to open the mined and sealed border with Afghanistan to permit relief supplies to be transported across a river that separates the countries, according to members of the delegation. Relief officials have urgently sought an opening of the corridor, which they say is the best route to get food shipments to hungry Afghans this winter. In addition, the president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurad Niyazov, promised to allow UN workers to operate at the Afghan border, now designated as a closed military area. The United Nations said it hopes to open new transport centers to increase the amount of aid going through Turkmenistan.
WORLD BANK, I.M.F. READY TO HELP PAKISTAN. The World Bank said yesterday it stood ready to follow up a $300 million loan for Pakistan with further assistance to help privatize and restructure the banking sector, reports the International Herald Tribune (p.13). "There are other reforms on which we are having a dialogue with the government," said Abid Hasan, the Bank's acting director in Pakistan.
Tuesday's package is the latest in a series of loans the World Bank has made to Pakistan in the hope of promoting reform, notes BBC Online.
"Pakistan is working to develop a competitive private banking system free from the interference of vested interests and operating under a strong regulatory framework," the Bank said in a statement. "The government has demonstrated that it understands the essential links between putting in place all the fundamentals... and its ability to create conditions for sustainable growth in Pakistan," said John Wall, the World Bank's director of Pakistan, speaking in Washington.
Wall also said the loan package had nothing to due with Pakistan's recent support of US attacks on Afghanistan. "This particular reform had been prepared in the year," he said.
Meanwhile, IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said talks between Fund officials and Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz would take place in Paris this week "with the intention to proceed speedily in the period immediately ahead."
The Japanese government, meanwhile, is poised to lift sanctions against Pakistan and India as early as this weekend, despite strong domestic opposition, in an attempt to contribute to international efforts against terrorism, notes the Financial Times (p.8). "When we think about the turn of events after the terrorist attacks, we must also think about economic aid," said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi this week.