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| November 24, 2001 | Saturday | Ramazan 8, 1422 |
Straw hopes Bonn moot will help form national govt
ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has hoped for emergence of national unity among various Afghan factions from the Bonn talks scheduled to begin on Monday.
“I am confident there is a real chance that a government of national unity emerges from this process”, he told newsmen at the Coalition Information Centre (CIS) news conference here on Friday.
Straw termed his meetings with some key representatives in the region impressive and fruitful.
“My conclusion to these meetings is that there is a wide consensus on genuine commitment to a political process that begins in Bonn under UN auspices next week”, he said, adding that though quick diplomatic and military progress regarding the Taliban and al-Qaeda had taken place during two months, a great deal still remained to be done.
“There are many difficulties to be overcome. UN is trying to build the foundation for a stable government in Afghanistan.”
Straw said that after the Taliban regime had been driven from power to confine to pockets of resistance, “the way has been cleared for construction of a broad-based multi-ethnic government in Afghanistan.”
Answering a question about the participation of Pakhtoons in the future Afghan government, he said that “to have a broad-based government, you would have to follow the demographic statistics.
“We have had a problem in Afghanistan for so many years and given the historic tension and differences that destabilized Afghanistan, no one group is politically able to dominate others.”
He said he felt the figure of the Pakhtoons’ participation in the future government might be 35 per cent to 50 per cent of the total.
He, however, added that it was Lakhdar Brahimi’s job to use the best estimates available to him. “Our commitment to stable Afghanistan is indeed wide-ranging, including active involvement in political process, increasing amount of aid into Pakistan and significant increase in aid for Afghanistan.”
Straw called for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem, saying that the resolution of the issue was important for the security of the region.
“There can be a solution through direct bilateral talks between India and Pakistan”, he said and