U.S., U.N. hold talks on post-Taliban phase

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 20. The Bush administration and the United Nations are holding hectic discussions on the nature of a post- Taliban government in Afghanistan.

On Friday, the U.N. Special Envoy, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, spent much of the day meeting top officials of the Bush administration, including the Vice-President, Mr. Dick Cheney, and the Deputy National Security Advisor, Mr. Stephen Hadley.

``They went over what the President has outlined as out goals for Afghanistan,'' the State Department's deputy spokesman, Mr. Philip Reeker, said without getting into the details.

Mr. Brahimi spent five hours at the State Department with the Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Richard Armitage, the Under- Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Mr. Marc Grossman, the Afghanistan policy coordinator, Mr. Richard Haass, and other senior administration officials.

Officials say the talks centred on the restoration of a popular government in Afghanistan, the main political actors and the larger aspects of economic reconstruction of that war- torn land. Mr. Cheney and other officials are said to have expressed ``strong support'' for Mr. Brahimi's mission.

The Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary- General, Mr. Kofi Annan, came to Washington on a specific political mission after meeting leaders of European governments and members of the Security Council. The Bush administration is keen on the U.N. playing a leading role, but there are differences on how this should come about.

Washington is toying with the idea of a limited U.N. peacekeeping role. But the world body is rather sceptical about this as it will not go well with the people of Afghanistan. The bottom line seems to be a realisation that there has to be a quick solution to avoiding a dangerous political vacuum.

Mr. Brahimi will be travelling to the region in the next week or two to see what could be accomplished on the ground. At this stage it is not clear which countries the U.N. Special Envoy will be visiting. Afghanistan's neighbours have differing views on what a post-Taliban arrangement in Kabul should be.

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Section  : International
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