ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The United States wants a unified, stable, Afghanistan where all ethnic groups are fairly represented in the power structure, said Wendy Chamberlin, US ambassador to Pakistan in a press briefing at her residence on Friday.
“The Taliban must go, and we have to think in terms of Pashtoons and not Taliban, Tajiks, Uzbek; and others and not the Northern Alliance”, said the ambassador.
She admitted that there are a lot of developments outside Afghanistan which concern the future of the political arrangement in the country, but said that the US has no interest in imposing a government of its choice.
“The government in Afghanistan has to be the choice of the Afghans. This has to come from within” said the ambassador.
She didn’t rule out the possibility of making some portions of the evidence against Osama bin Laden public saying that “this is being reviewed”. She, however, said that the part of the problem is that if the evidence is made public it will not be used in a court of law.
She said that this evidence draws heavily on the indictment submitted in the US courts for the bombings of the US embassies in Africa.
“Much of the evidence is in the shape of statements from Osama bin Laden which express his intentions to kill Americans and attack American interests all over the world. These statements have been circulating for a long time”, said the ambassador.
She said that the international community’s front against the terrorist groups inside Afghanistan has become more solid than before.
She said that now there is an international alliance that will make it harder for terrorists to move around and send money across. This will block and choke their operations, she said. “Different countries have characterized the evidence that we have shown them differently. Pakistan has found it to be impressive and enough to indict Osama and Al Qaeda, “ said the ambassador, who added that the US is delighted with the co-operation that it has got from Pakistan.
The ambassador went to great lengths in reiterating that this time round the US support to Pakistan will be “enduring”.
She mentioned the removal of sanctions, talks on Exim bank, OPIC insurance, aid bill in Congress that would allow aid flow of nearly $600 million into Pakistan as signs of US support to the country.
She said that Pakistan has a lot to gain from a stable Afghanistan, which would open the country to the opportunities of helping Afghanistan rebuild, of gas pipelines, and having friendly and strong regime in Afghanistan.
