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ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Friday called upon the Northern Alliance to accept on humanitarian grounds the Taliban troops willing to surrender, and detain those fighting for the Taliban to avert a possible human disaster in Kunduz.
Speaking at a joint news conference at the foreign office with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, Mr Straw said that he had shared the concerns about Kunduz with President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Earlier, the foreign secretary held separate talks with President Musharraf and Mr Sattar, and discussed latest developments in Afghanistan, military action and the British financial assistance and investment in Pakistan.
Mr Straw said that he had discussed with Gen Musharraf issues relating to the proposed Bonn conference of Afghan factions as well as his talks with Iranian leaders held in Tehran before he came to Islamabad.
“We discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the concerns on the Kunduz standoff between the Taliban fighters and the Northern Alliance as the president pressed for taking immediate steps by the international coalition to save the innocent people of Afghanistan from genocide,” Mr Straw said.
The two foreign ministers pinned great hopes on the Bonn conference in drawing a roadmap for a transitional multi-ethnic, broad-based setup in Afghanistan so that it can have long due stability. They said that any future civilian administration in Afghanistan should not be composed of a particular ethnic group. In reply to a question about Kunduz, Mr Straw said, “we are doing our best but since we do not have our forces in the area we can do little.”
He asked the Northern Alliance to accept the surrender by the Taliban fighters if they decided to give up fight.
Answering a question, the foreign secretary said that at a meeting in Tehran Northern Alliance leader Abdullah Abdullah had opposed the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, including those of Britain.
However, when clarified that the presence of multi-national forces in the country was necessary to provide protection to aid workers during the reconstruction process, Mr Abdullah agreed but insisted that any such move should have been undertaken after consulting the alliance.
In reply to a question about the selection of Afghan delegates for the proposed Bonn conference being held on Monday, Mr Sattar said: “We are supporting (UN ambassador Lakhdar) Brahimi in his own selection of the groups, for it is he who would deal with them for the establishment of a broad-based government in Afghanistan.”
He dismissed as absurd the term moderate for the Taliban for their possible inclusion in the future setup and said, “those linked to terrorism or harbouring terrorism were extremist elements and only those elements can be part of the exercise who accept the implementation of all UN resolutions. Many of those who make part of the Northern Alliance now had past relations with the former Soviet Union but we cannot omit them as such”.
In reply to a question about the Indian diplomatic pres