'Leading role' for U.N. favoured

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, NOV. 17. China and Pakistan are of the view that the United Nations should play a `leading role' in the resolution of the Afghan imbroglio. Beijing seems to share Islamabad's concern over the manner in which the Northern Alliance was allowed to take over Kabul on Tuesday.

This was evident in the course of a conversation between the Chinese President, Mr. Jiang Zemin and Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on Friday evening. Gen. Musharraf had called up Mr. Jemin to appraise him of Pakistan's position on the current developments in Afghanistan.

Though no details of their conversation are available, the official news agencies both in Islamabad and Beijing said that the two leaders exchanged views on the Afghan issue over the phone. The news agencies said that Gen. Musharraf outlined his views on the Afghan situation in the conversation and Mr. Jiang thanked him for his explanation. ``Both heads of state believed that efforts should be made to promote the political solution to the Afghan issue under the current situation''.

According to the official news agencies, they agreed that the international community should push forward all walks of life in Afghanistan for the early establishment of an interim authority which can represent all ethnic groups in Afghanistan while ensuring that the situation in Kabul is under control.

Mr. Jiang and Gen. Musharraf reiterated that the U.N. should play a leading role in resolving the Afghan problem and also expressed their concern over the humanitarian situation in the country.

Implied in the suggestion of Pakistan and China for a leading role for the U.N. is a call particularly to the United States to restrain the Northern Alliance from taking any steps that could further complicate the situation in the efforts towards forming a ``broadbased and multi-ethnic'' set-up in Kabul.

Islamabad is upset over the turn of events in Afghanistan and believes that unless urgent steps are taken to firm up a political strategy to put in place a set-up acceptable to all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the situation could lead to a civil war.

The assertive tone of some of the Alliance leaders in the last two or three days has been a cause for concern to the military Government. The statement attributed to an Alliance leader that the British troops had no authorisation to enter Afghanistan has not gone unnoticed here. The dilemma of Islamabad vis-a-vis the Northern Alliance is indeed serious.

For several years now, Pakistan has been regarding the Alliance as a group propped by its enemies and has put all its eggs in the Taliban basket. Indeed, the Northern Alliance is a grouping of the ethnic minorities in Afghanistan and has virtually no leader worth the name from the Pashtun tribe in its ranks.

Pakistan was proceeding on the assumption that the Pashtun- dominated Taliban militia had come to stay and that the Northern Alliance was a thing of the past. With the sudden `disappearance' of the Taliban and reappearance of the Alliance forces in Kabul, Pakistan has no friends left in Afghanistan. The situation can be imagined by the simple fact that the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Aziz Khan, today conceded at the press briefing that the last contact between Islamabad and the Northern Alliance was over a year ago!

One of the objectives of the U.S. special envoy, Mr. James F. Dobbins, who is currently in Pakistan, is to address Islamabad's concerns arising out of the rise of the Northern Alliance. After meeting senior functionaries in the Pakistan Foreign Office, he is now in Peshawar establishing contacts with various Afghan groups.

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Section  : International
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