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Britain, Pakistan Agree on Post-Taliban Scenario
ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (News Agencies) - Pakistan and Britain agreed Friday that any post-Taliban government in Afghanistan must be broad-based and include all major ethnic groups, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
"We agreed that its [the Taliban's] successor must be broad-based, and every key ethnic group included," Blair told reporters following talks here with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.
Blair added that the international community would have to take into account that Pakistan has "a valid interest in close involvement for any arrangement for a future regime."
For his part, Musharraf said he personally felt, as did his government, that there was sufficient evidence "leading to an association" between the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States and Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.
"We are not here standing in judgment on the details of this evidence," Musharraf said.
"However we did, I would say with satisfaction, understand each other's concerns on happenings in Afghanistan and likely future events in Afghanistan," he added.
Blair arrived Friday in Pakistan - a frontline state in the war against terrorism - for talks with Musharraf ahead of the expected U.S. strikes on Afghanistan.
The visit underlined Pakistan's pivotal role in any military action against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and alleged training camps run by bin Laden.
Prior to the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban, and is now the only country in the world to recognize the militia's government in Kabul.
Blair was only scheduled to stay four hours, before traveling on to India.
Officially, Islamabad has only agreed to provide use of its airspace, intelligence-sharing and undefined logistical support.
But in a key development Thursday, Pakistan became the first Islamic nation to accept that the evidence gathered by the United States of bin Laden's alleged complicity in the September 11th attacks was "sufficient" to warrant an indictment.
Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said the purpose of Blair's visit was "first and foremost to show solidarity with Pakistan".
He also said he was unaware of "any special message" the British prime minister might be bringing for Musharraf.
The visit is a key element in the coordinated diplomatic squeeze being exerted by the United States and Britain on Afghanistan's neighbors as preparations intensify for military reprisals.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Friday.
An official traveling with Rumsfeld said 1,000 U.S. elite troops were en route to Uzbekistan in the first major deployment of U.S. ground forces in the current crisis.
Musharraf's backing for military strikes was provided at significant domestic political risk given the pro-Taliban sympathies of powerful religious parties here.
For now, Musharraf appears to have the upper hand, but observers say the situation could change drastically when the expected U.S. military action begins.
An extended conflict would provide Musharraf's detractors with extra ammunition, especially once the extent of Pakistani cooperation becomes clearer.
Britain is one of the NATO powers most likely to use its own troops in any U.S.-led attack, but Blair's visit carries political significance beyond the immediate crisis in terms of the recognition it accords Musharraf's military regime.
Britain was one of the fiercest critics of Musharraf after he overthrew the elected government of Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in October 1999, and it spearheaded the move to suspend Pakistan's membership of the Commonwealth.
With the exception of then British chief of army staff Lord Guthrie, no senior British official has visited Pakistan since the coup, and the last visit by a prime minister was that of John Major in February 1997.
"Now we hope with this visit by the British prime minister that the relationship and cooperation between the two countries will return to complete normality," foreign ministry spokesman Khan said.
Blair's decision to fit India into his hastily arranged itinerary is a reflection of the fine diplomatic line the United States and its allies are having to walk in South Asia.
Pakistan has already been rewarded economically for its stance in the current crisis and India is concerned that its allegations of Pakistani sponsorship of Muslim "militants" in Kashmir are being sidelined in the current atmosphere of "realpolitik".
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