Taliban aim to destabilise Afghanistan - Abdullah

Afghanistan faces yet another Taliban stratagem to destabilise the country, said Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah in the wake of the killing of UN aid worker Bettina Goislard in Ghazni last week.

Goislard is the 12th UN official to be shot dead since March this year.

Calling once more for greater cooperation from neighbouring Pakistan on the war against his nation's nemesis, Abdullah told Gulf News, "while the Taliban do not pose a strategic threat to the whole of Afghanistan, their strategy is focused on destabilising and disrupting the lives of the people. It's calculated to prevent the government from providing services to the people."

Abdullah was referring to the scaling back of aid operations in the volatile south and southeast by the UN in the aftermath of the Goislard killing .

Expressing growing concern over the degree of co-operation from Islamabad on the issue, Abdullah said "We are increasingly concerned over the cooperation, or should I say, the lack of it, of Pakistan as far as the Taliban is concerned, as far as the leadership of the Taliban is concerned."

The foreign minister who made his annoyance plain in meetings with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, denied that he had been forced to tone down his criticism of Islamabad after his meetings in Washington.

His views are widely echoed by senior members of the Hamid Karzai administration. "Our views on Pakistan are clear and transparent. This is an issue on which we would like to engage Pakistan at a very high level at a bilateral level and in the joint tripartite commission that includes the US. Any efforts to work against this, goes against the interests of Afghanistan and the US," he warned.

He stressed however that his government wanted "above all, to have good neighbourly relations with Pakistan." "These aspects have to be considered, there is no doubt that progress has been made in areas of trade and transport, but to be silent over such a major concern will not be prudent."

Abdullah, who fought alongside the legendary Ahmed Shah Massood for over 20 years before the Tajik commander was assassinated only days before 9/11, believes that the Taliban's rallying call to Pashtuns that their cause is not being served by the Tajik dominated Karzai government will no longer wash.

"On the Pashtun versus non Pashtun campaign, this is not new. This we are used to, the Taliban projected themselves as supporters of the Pashtuns, and that the US is in the hands of the Tajiks, but after 9/11, it was not possible to misguide the world that way. They were clearly terrorists working with Al Qaida. The Afghans recognise them for what they are."

Pointing to the twin bombings in Istanbul by Al Qaida sleeper cells that Turkish authorities believe were trained in Afghanistan, Abdullah warned "this is what Afghanistan was before the Taliban were ousted."

In a veiled warning to Pakistan, which Afghan foreign ministry sources say continue to see Afghanis-tan as an area of influence, Abdullah said, "We will not allow ourselves to be treated as anyone's strategic depth, we are a nation in our own right. While we deal with our neighbours and other nations in the region with respect, we expect these nations to conduct relations on an equitable basis."

Abdullah believes that the Loya Jirga, which begins in Kabul on December 10 will be a validation of President Hamid Karzai government's commitment to peace and democracy.

"You ask what the benchmarks are, look at the magnitude of the challenges we faced. You feel little is done in Afghanistan. Until two years ago, we were ruled by the Taliban and the Al Qaida, now we are talking about a constitution and a Loya Jirga and a general election. Refugees have returned, some 2.5 million are back, a half a million have been resettled. It's a major change...."

The constitution was drafted by a 35 member Constitutional Review Commission and will be voted on by some 500 delegates at the Loya Jirga. It has won praise for staying on track.

But there is criticism of its attempt to impose a presidential rather than a parliamentary system and from women activists, calling for a clearer enunciation of women's rights.

"The draft constitution has been arrived at after widespread consultations with the people of Afghanistan over a period of seven to eight months." He characterised it as "a democratic process," and a "modest beginning" that is aimed at giving wider representation to all sections of society, irrespective of gender and ethnic persuasion.