Allies scramble to fill void

14 Nov, 2001 10:47 AM6 mins to read

WASHINGTON - The United States and its allies were desperately struggling to keep a grip on events in Afghanistan yesterday, with no international peacekeeping force ready to move into Kabul and no agreement on a broad-based government to succeed the reeling Taleban.

Stunned by the speed of military developments on the ground, world leaders in Washington, London, Islamabad, and New York were scrambling to set up a UN-flagged force to move into the capital and other Afghan cities taken by the Northern Alliance, and to lay the foundations of a government capable of bringing unity and stability to the country.

Yesterday, the United Nations said it would send political staff to Kabul immediately, and urged all Afghan factions to meet for a conference on the future of the country as soon as possible.

Lakhtar Brahimi, the special UN envoy for Afghanistan, proposed a five-point plan for a transitional administration that might rule for two years.

But before that happens, order and peace must be guaranteed. This would probably require an ad-hoc multinational force under the UN flag, diplomats said, rather than a peacekeeping operation directly run by the world body.

Brahimi told the Security Council there were three choices, the best of which was an "all-Afghan" security force.

If this were not possible, he proposed a multinational force. The third and worst choice was a traditional UN peacekeeping force, which would take months to organise.

Washington indicated that American troops would not be part of any UN force, which it says should be drawn predominantly from Muslim countries such as Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Turkey has already indicated its willingness, and Pakistan's leader, General Pervez Musharraf, said after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in Istanbul that his country would contribute.

Kabul should be a "demilitarised city", Musharraf urged. The atrocities of the past must not be repeated, he said, referring to the bloodletting that accompanied previous captures of Kabul - by the alliance in 1992 and the Taleban four years later.

But whether soldiers from Pakistan, which opposed the alliance's takeover of Kabul, would be acceptable is unclear.

The US and its allies were taking encouragement from alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who promised his grouping's "full commitment" to a broad-based government.

But with events on the ground racing ahead, amid unconfirmed reports of mass defections by Taleban elements, the task of cobbling together a government for the ravaged and splintered country remained as complicated as ever.

Efforts by the "six plus two" group - Afghanistan's neighbours plus the US and Russia - to create a framework have yielded scant tangible progress, as factional feuding continues.

The entourage of exiled King Zahir Shah - seen as a key partner with the alliance in a new administration that might also include moderate Taleban elements - accused the alliance of breaking its word over the capture of Kabul.

"It is against the agreement they made with us," said Abdul Sattar Sirat, a close aide of the former monarch.

"We wanted Kabul to be demilitarised and that the Kabul government and administration should come under a political process."

As did US President George W. Bush, who had explicitly asked the alliance to stop short of the city, and who yesterday discussed Afghanistan's future with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the White House.

Abdullah said the alliance had initially not intended to enter the city, but "for security reasons" were left with no choice as the Taleban fled.

Bush put a brave face on developments, proclaiming himself "very pleased" with the war's progress, but the White House, along with other Western countries, is deeply alarmed by reports of looting and revenge killing accompanying the progress of the alliance.

The US focus of the military drive now shifts southwards to the majority Pashtun parts of the country, and the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar.

As it does so, the influence of the alliance, largely made up of ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks, will diminish.

Ideally, Taleban defections will help to secure a quick demise of the regime. Otherwise, the US would have little choice but to commit ground troops in far greater numbers.

The US and British Governments are scrambling to get troops, arms and aid into Afghanistan.

The extraordinary advance of the alliance has taken place with fewer than 150 American and British troops on the ground.

Bagram airbase, in the northeast of Afghanistan, is expected to become the first bridgehead for the Allies as they try to build up a force.

A six-man team of American special forces, in civilian clothes and carrying M-16 assault rifles, arrived there yesterday to carry out reconnaissance.

The immediate US deployment is likely to be from the 2000 mountain warfare troops across the border in Uzbekistan. Britain has 238 Royal Marines on board the assault ship HMS Fearless just off Oman and a further 400 in training. They can be augmented by paratroopers and Gurkhas.

Discussions under way in Brussels aim to put Nato forces in charge of the humanitarian efforts. Nato's Secretary-General, Lord George Robertson, is believed to be in favour of the plan, and hardly any voices have been raised against it, say diplomatic and defence sources.

One proposal is for Nato aircraft to carry food, medicine and tents to a country next to Afghanistan and then for Nato troops to escort them into comparatively safe areas.

In other developments:

* Bush signed an order that would allow the US military to set up special courts to try foreigners accused of the September 11 attacks and similar assaults.

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has the authority to establish the tribunals. The order does not name anyone who would be prosecuted in the military courts and does not apply to Americans.

A White House official said it was easier to protect sources and methods of investigation in military proceedings, and a military trial could be held overseas.

* The Government has compiled a list of more than 5000 foreign men living in the US it wants to question about the September 11 hijacking attacks.

Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said the department was circulating the list, drawn up with the help of the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, to the 94 US attorneys' offices nationwide.

The listed men, aged 18 to 33, entered the US on non-immigrant visas after January 1 last year from specific countries.

* Russia's security police said they had arrested two men for trying to sell a radioactive substance in the Urals.

Police seized three containers of cobalt 60, a radioactive isotope with a variety of medical and industrial uses. The containers had been stolen from a factory in the Urals.

Some experts fear that Russia's low-paid nuclear scientists or biological weapons experts could be tempted to aid terrorists.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

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