Afghan opposition seizes initiative
Ex-king calls for rebellion as alliance attacks
Ian Traynor in Dushanbe
Saturday September 22, 2001
The Guardian
Afghanistan's exiled king yesterday called on his country's tribal
elders to oust the Taliban regime as the opposition launched concerted
attacks and its leaders conferred with the Americans.
Fierce fighting erupted in the north around the strategic Taliban
stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif as Northern Alliance opposition forces
attacked from three sides.
In the Northern Alliance stronghold of the Panjsher valley, the
opposition "foreign minister", Abdullah Abdullah was contacted by US
officials in what appeared to be an attempt to coordinate an onslaught
on Taliban forces.
Fearing a US bombing campaign, Taliban fighters are said to be seeking
shelter, leaving them exposed to ground offensives.
That appeared to be the calculation of General Rashid Dostum, a
formidable warlord and ethnic Uzbek leader whose fighters advanced on
Mazar-i-Sharif from an opposition-held pocket to the south.
Almost simultaneously there was fighting to the east and west of Mazar
at Balkh and Samangan, according to opposition officials based in
Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
In Rome, the 86-year-old King Zahir Shah, who was exiled 28 years ago,
appealed for the election of an Afghan head of state and the
installation of an interim administration to replace the Taliban. In a
barely veiled reference to Osama bin Laden, he said Afghanistan had
been destabilised by "foreign imposed terrorists".
Tribal elders should convene an emergency council to elect a head of
state and install a provisional government replacing the Taliban, he
said.
The king appeared to be reading from a script written in Washington
and his appeal is an integral element of what seems to be a US plan to
topple the Taliban by force and install a new government, as reported
in The Guardian yesterday.
In line with the preferences of the Northern Alliance and the US, the
exiled monarch was careful not to call for a restoration of the
throne.
Yesterday, officials from the US, Iran, Germany, and Italy joined the
special UN envoy on Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell of Spain, for
unscheduled talks in Geneva. At the same time, Dr Abdullah and the new
military commander of the Northern Alliance, General Mohammed Fahim,
were expected in Dushanbe for talks with local officials and perhaps
with western envoys.
Gen Fahim is seen as a temporary replacement for the legendary Ahmed
Shah Masood, the guerrilla commander assassinated almost two weeks
ago. A desire for revenge and the perception of the Taliban's
vulnerability following President Bush's stark warning fuelled the new
onslaught.
The king's appeal was seen as an attempt to set himself up as a
US-backed arbiter and unifying figure. "The king can play the part of
elder statesman and that could be helpful," a senior Northern Alliance
official said. "But there can be no restoration of the monarchy in
Afghanistan."
Zahir is a Pashtun, the ethnic group which dominates the Taliban. He
is viewed warily by many non-Pashtuns, especially the ethnic Tajiks
who dominate the Northern Alliance.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001