|
Kabul's Fall Raises Concerns
ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In its first reaction to the fall of Kabul to Northern Alliance forces Tuesday, the Pakistani government expressed the hope that no single group would occupy the city and that there would not be any bloodshed.
Pakistan has made it clear they did not want the Northern Alliance to take Kabul and that the city should be a demilitarized zone, reported BBC's online service.
"Until the setting up of a multi-ethnic dispensation, no single group should occupy Kabul," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said.
The United States and Britain had also called on the Northern Alliance not to occupy Kabul as they may meet with resentment from the Afghan people and until a broad-based, post-Taliban government could be set up.
Pakistan says it does not want to see a repeat of the early 1990s, when different factions of the Northern Alliance ruling Kabul engaged in a bitter and violent civil war, and lawlessness and anarchy destroyed much of the country.
The foreign ministry said if the Northern Alliance returned, there would be a continuation of the civil war. "It is better if it is controlled by a type of multi-ethnic consensus force," the foreign ministry spokesman said.
Pakistan will attempt to put pressure on the international community to quickly come up with the long-awaited, broad-based government - which ideally would include the Pashtuns, who also live in Pakistan.
Washington is afraid that the Northern Alliance's military victories over the past few days could undermine hopes of getting Afghanistan's Pashtun community - the largest ethnic group - to join the broad-based government.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani daily newspaper, Dawn, reported that international negotiations on the shape of a post-Taliban government are lagging far behind military developments.
The U.S., Britain and their allies have been trying for some time to organize a conference of Afghan political and ethnic leaders under the figurehead chairmanship of ex-Afghan king Zahir Shah. The meeting has failed to materialize because of frictions among rival Afghan groups and Afghanistan's neighbors.
Key among the questions facing the international mediators will be the future of Kabul. The U.S. is strongly pushing for Kabul to become a demilitarized "open city".
There is uncertainty over what kind of security can be offered to the traumatized people of Kabul. One idea is for an ethnically representative all-Afghan security force.
Although this is hard to envisage, given the long rivalry among Afghan groups and their frequent switches of loyalty - with today's allies shooting at each other tomorrow, Dawn reported.
Pro-Taliban Islamic groups in Pakistan have also reacted to the opposition takeover of Kabul by saying they were unhappy with the developments.
"The capture of Kabul by the anti-Pakistan opposition alliance will have negative implications for the country," said Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of the Afghan Defense Council - an alliance of pro-Taliban groups.
The dramatic advances by the Afghan Northern Alliance are a great boost for the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban, but it may make the search for a stable post-Taliban government more difficult.
The Alliance is a multi-ethnic opposition group, which was plagued by internal dissent when it governed, but is now united in its desire to topple the ruling Taliban.
The Alliance is primarily comprised of three non-Pashtun ethnic groups - Tajiks, Uzbeks and the Hazaras - and in the past relied on a core of some 15,000 troops to defend its territories against the predominantly Pashtun Taliban.
In early September, the Alliance was dealt a critical blow by the assassination of leader General Ahmed Shah Masood. Masood had been integral in forging alliances with former opponents and maintaining the coordination of a patchwork of guerrilla fighter units.
But Masood's skill had not translated into significant military achievement on the ground. The Alliance only controlled fewer than five percent of Afghanistan - the Panjshir valley, stronghold and birthplace of Masood, and a small enclave in the mountainous northeast.
It was the U.S. decision to back the Northern Alliance in its efforts against the Taliban - including the bombardment of Taliban front line positions - that marked a major reversal of the Alliance's fortunes.
However, former Afghan anti-Soviet resistance commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar warned Tuesday that fighting in Afghanistan was far from over and that U.S. command was now facing a protracted guerrilla war, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The war is not over, even if the Taliban are surrendering all major cities," Hekmatyar said. "The United States will be confronted with a guerrilla war... just as the Soviet Union was" in the 1979-1989 conflict that ended with a humiliating defeat for Moscow.
Hekmatyar, notorious for having caused massive destruction during fighting that raged in Kabul for three years after the Soviets' defeat, is currently exiled in Iran.
He recently announced that he heads a group of rebels - whose precise size remains unclear - which would very soon be fighting alongside the Taliban.
The U.S.-backed Northern Alliance opposition has made substantial territorial gains on the Taliban regime over the last few days before finally entering Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, early Tuesday.
|
