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Straw Says Situation in Kunduz "Grave"
Additional Reporting by IOL Correspondent in Pakistan, Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Friday the situation in the besieged northern Afghan city of Kunduz was grave, and that Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters who want to surrender should not be mistreated.
"Our position is very straightforward: that is that if people are ready to surrender...then the surrender should be accepted,'' Straw told reporters after meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar. "We all understand the potential humanitarian disaster that is possible in Kunduz.''
Straw arrived in Islamabad late Thursday from Iran on the second leg of a diplomatic mission to promote a broad-based government in Afghanistan. He also met the U. N. envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell.
The Afghan Northern Alliance has accepted the surrender of thousands of Taliban fighters and their Pakistani, Arab and Chechen allies in Kunduz, which is under siege. Many more remain in the city and have vowed to fight to the death.
Many of the foreign fighters are believed to be Pakistanis, and the country's religious parties are demanding the government do all it can to save the lives of their nationals.
Pakistan is a key ally of the U. S.-led coalition launching military operations in Afghanistan, initiated on Oct. 7 after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, accused by the administration of U. S. President George W. Bush of masterminding the deadly Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington DC.
During talks with Musharraf and others, Straw discussed an upcoming conference of Afghan factions in Bonn, Germany, aimed at paving the way for a new government in Afghanistan. Straw said he hopes the process can be completed as soon as possible.
Sattar said Pakistan hopes that in subsequent meetings, Afghan factions, which will not attend the Bonn conference, can be included. He, however, did not elaborate.
After meeting with Straw, Vendrell said that the meeting in Germany would be a good start for peace.
"I don't think we should have high expectations that they are going to meet and immediately agree to the kind of plan that we have put forward in the [U. N.] Security Council,'' Vendrell told reporters. "But if we can make progress on it, there could be some understandings which could be later translated into agreements.''
Straw flew into Islamabad after a day of intensive diplomacy in the Iranian capital,Tehran, where he held talks with the Iranian foreign minister and several parliamentarians.
While in Tehran, Straw also met the foreign minister of the Afghan Northern Alliance, Abdullah Abdullah.
During the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi warned Straw against the deployment of more foreign troops to Afghanistan. He said they would only complicate the crisis in the country. "Handling Afghan issues should be left to the Afghan people," Kharrazi said.
Straw described his meeting with Kharrazi as "constructive" and welcomed what he called Iran's complete commitment to a broad-based government in Afghanistan.
According to BBC's online news service, the difficulty of Straw's mission is in persuading Iran and Pakistan to pull together because they support opposing sides in the Afghan conflict. Both governments have different views on which faction should prevail and are deeply suspicious of each other's intentions.
Iran is favoring parts of the Northern Alliance, and is particularly concerned that the voice of Afghanistan's minority Shiites are properly heard. Pakistan is the former patron of the Taliban and backer of the biggest ethnic group in Afghanistan, the Pashtuns.
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