WASHINGTON, Nov 9: The United States welcomed Pakistan’s decision to close the Taliban-run Afghan consulate in Karachi on Thursday but said it was useful for the Afghan Embassy in the capital Islamabad to stay open.
“I was very pleased with the Pakistani government’s decision to close down the Taliban consulate,” Wendy Chamberlin, US ambassador to Pakistan, told reporters at a briefing during a visit to Washington.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that the country had asked the Taliban to close the Karachi consulate immediately.
The United States hopes Pakistan will follow up by closing the Taliban consulates in the cities of Quetta and Peshawar, leaving the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad as the only diplomatic post that the Taliban run abroad.
After the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, Washington called for the isolation of the Taliban and persuaded Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to break off ties.
But it also wanted somewhere to obtain visas and speak to Taliban officials about two American aid workers arrested for allegedly trying to convert Afghans to Christianity.
Chamberlin said: “We discussed this with the (Pakistani) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My advice was ‘Yes, it is of some utility to have one place in the world where there is a Taliban representation, for the visa issue.’”
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: “We’ve seen the fact of a Taliban office in Islamabad as perhaps helpful, given the fact that Americans and other people are still being detained in Kabul.”
The Pakistani government has asked the Taliban embassy in Islamabad to tone down its statements against third countries such as the United States.
SAFETY: The US envoy said President Pervez Musharraf could easily ride out any local opposition to the US bombing of Afghanistan when the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan starts next week.
Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin told reporters that Musharraf was “stronger than in the past” and had the support of a loyal and professional military.
“He is in a very strong position and ... I am confident that when Ramazan starts, if our objectives have not been achieved by then, he won’t have a problem,” she said.
Musharraf said on Thursday he would try to persuade US President George W. Bush to suspend the bombing during Ramazan to avert political fallout in the Islamic world.
He said the US campaign should be brief because it is seen as a war against innocent Afghan civilians.
But Chamberlin said Musharraf agreed with the United States that the war should go on “until the objective is achieved.”
“He has never in any way expressed other than full support for our joint effort in achieving this objective... (What he says) is sometimes misinterpreted,” she added.
The ambassador praised Musharraf for measures to strengthen his domestic position by cracking down on what she called hate speech and incitement.
Asked about the state of the Pakistani armed forces, which has a history of overthrowing the government, she said: “It’s a professional, very professional military.”
TALIBAN SYMPATHIZERS ON THE WAY OUT: She said the generals whom Musharraf replaced or sidelined in early October had “retired according to normal military procedures.” At the time the changes were interpreted as a purge of Islamist officers who might oppose Musharraf’s close cooperation with the United States against the Taliban.
The generals included the director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani intelligence organization which has close ties with the Taliban. Chamberlin said that at lower levels in the ISI some personnel probably had an ideological commitment to the Taliban, who follow a puritanical version of Islam.
“But we have seen communications that again these people who have been in a single position (in the ISI) for a number of years are being rotated out,” she added. The ambassador said she does not worry about the fate of Pakistan’s nuclear warheads and the possibility that they might fall into the hands of militants.
“It’s a professional army, it’s a professional government. I have confidence in Musharraf and I don’t lose sleep at night,” she said.
The new attitude toward Pakistan is in strong contrast with the US position before the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. After that Washington needed Pakistani cooperation to strike back at al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In June the United States condemned Musharraf’s decision to declare himself president and said US sanctions would remain until Pakistan moved toward democracy. All the sanctions has since been lifted. —Reuters
