November 17, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 1, 1422

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UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16: The UN envoy in charge of Afghanistan said on Friday the Northern Alliance was obstructing urgent efforts to arrange a crucial meeting on the country’s political future.

Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s envoy, told reporters the main obstacle delaying the meeting was “the response of the Afghan parties, and in particular the Alliance, who while directing the fighting are busy in Kabul”.

He said his deputy, Francesc Vendrell, now in Islamabad, planned to go to Kabul on Saturday and talk to officials of the alliance. But he said the real difficulty in organizing any talks was “30 years of war”.—Reuters