Afghanistan:  Brahimi Meets Afghans, Reportedly Floated Mecca Talks

Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's newly reappointed special Afghanistan envoy, was to meet today in Pakistan with "Afghans from inside Afghanistan" to discuss the war-torn country's future, according to U.N. spokesman Eric Falt.

Brahimi and the Afghans—"we cannot disclose who, for obvious reasons," Falt said—were expected to discuss what kind of government will replace the ruling Taliban if and when U.S.-led attacks against the regime, accused of harboring alleged terrorism kingpin Osama bin Laden, lead to its downfall.

Brahimi was also to meet with the Revolutionary Afghan Women's Association, a human rights group that has photographed and publicized executions in violation of Taliban law, before traveling tomorrow to Iran and then returning to New York.  Reuters reports the envoy is likely to return to the region soon for meetings in countries such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (Jack Redden, Reuters/Yahoo! News, Nov. 1).

In meetings earlier this week with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and others, the Financial Times reports, Brahimi proposed a meeting of Afghan leaders in Mecca, Islam's most sacred site.  A diplomat Brahimi briefed said the plan will likely be agreeable to Pakistan and Iran, adding that the parties will find it difficult to reject a peace plan in Mecca.

Players and observers have for weeks been discussing the idea of a traditional grand council, attended by various factions and ethnic groups, to decide how to govern a post-Taliban Afghanistan.  Haron Amin, the opposition Northern Alliance's Washington representative, continued to speak of such a meeting being held in Turkey, not Saudi Arabia, saying his government would attend.  Amin added that Taliban defections are welcome but that Taliban members should have no place in a new Afghan government (Financial Times, Nov. 1).

Brahimi met yesterday with a group of Afghan women representing volunteer groups and nongovernmental organizations, who Falt said expressed a desire for peace and for respect for women's rights.

"There should be space for women's development and education in the future of Afghanistan," Falt quoted one woman as saying.  "If we can get peace, we will be able to assert our rights."

"The commanders are all men and they enjoy war," another woman said, according to Falt.  "Please be sure, however, that their own wives want peace" (U.N. Newservice, Oct. 31).

Current bids to decide Afghanistan's future, at least six of which are proceeding at sites from Europe to Central Asia, are "a disaster," a Western diplomat told the Washington Post.  The Post cites officials involved in the process in reporting that factional infighting and foreign countries' influences are hampering the talks (Anderson/Moore, Washington Post, Nov. 1).

U.N. Development Program Administrator Mark Malloch Brown met yesterday with Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka to discuss rebuilding Afghanistan.  UNDP hopes to cooperate with Japan and other countries, as well as with the World Bank, to reconstruct the country, Malloch Brown said.  Tanaka said Japan will contribute to the effort, adding that she hopes to present an Afghan reconstruction plan to foreign ministers at a Nov. 11 Group of Eight meeting in New York (NHK, Oct. 31).

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said today in New Delhi that any new Afghan government should be created with an eye to regional stability.  "We shared our analyses of the situation on the military and political fronts, and we will in a coordinated manner continue our efforts so that a political situation takes hold in Afghanistan," Vedrine said after meeting with Indian officials including External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh.  Agence France-Presse reports that India will frown on any Afghan solution that leaves Pakistan with significant influence over Afghanistan.  Vedrine will travel to Pakistan next (AFP/TF1.fr, Nov. 1, UN Wire translation).

Taliban Seeks Negotiations, Evidence

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's education and culture minister, yesterday called for negotiations with the United States and reiterated the regime's demand for proof of bin Laden's guilt in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"We do not want to fight," Muttaqi said.  "We will negotiate, but talk to us like a sovereign country.  We are not a province of the United States, to be issued orders to.  We have asked for proof of Osama's involvement, but they have refused.  Why?"

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher replied, "All one has to do is watch television to find Osama bin Laden claiming responsibility for the Sept. 11 bombings.  There is no question of responsibility.  There is no question of the responsibility of the Taliban, and there's no question of what they should do."

Muttaqi called on Washington not to "make Muslims everywhere angry" by continuing to bomb Afghanistan.  Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, though, struck a different tone, daring the allies to send ground troops into the country.  "We will fight and let's see who will win," Muttawakil said (Kathy Gannon, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Oct. 31).

Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef today said the regime has detained "a few American citizens," but did not give their identities and said he did not know how or when they were arrested.  According to some media reports, late opposition leader Abdul Haq was accompanied by some Americans when the Taliban captured him last week.  Haq was then executed (Reuters/Irish Times, Nov. 1).

Zaeef yesterday accused the United States of seeking to install a puppet regime in northern Afghanistan to eliminate the country's "Islamic identity" (Oliver Moore, Globe and Mail, Oct. 31).

Powell Predicts Ramadan Bombing

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States will continue to attack Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in about two weeks, despite calls for a halt to bombing, although it may temper its effort, the Wall Street Journal reports.  "It would not be smart of us not to be sensitive to the fact that this is an important religious period," Powell said.  The allies must "keep the pressure up all through the winter," though, he added (Robbins/King, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1).  Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose country is home to more Muslims than any other, called today for a Ramadan halt to the bombing (NHK, Nov. 1).

Zaeef said yesterday that 1,500 people have died since the U.S. strikes began Oct. 7, accusing the United States of deliberately targeting civilians (Reuters/Karachi Business Recorder, Nov. 1).

Countries Aid U.S., Northern Alliance

Japanese and U.S. officials met today in Tokyo to discuss the participation of Japanese troops in the U.S.-led campaign following Japanese passage this week of a law that would for the first time allow Japanese troops to engage in overseas activities (Teruaki Ueno, Reuters, Nov. 1).

Turkey will also contribute troops, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said today.  Washington was reported yesterday to have asked the country for troops to train Northern Alliance fighters (AP/ABCNews.com, Nov. 1).

European Union countries agreed yesterday to authorize the provision of arms to the Afghan opposition, sources told AFP (AFP/Cyberpresse.ca, Oct. 31, UN Wire translation).

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Worldwide Response: Countries Pass Antiterrorism and Security Measures

France approved new antiterrorism legislation yesterday in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.  Both the Senate and the French National Assembly have passed the bill, which will become law once it is published.  France is one of several countries to have created domestic antiterrorism legislation.

The bill will allow greater powers for private security firms to check identity cards and luggage, provide police increased authority to search properties and vehicles and allow more sharing of police information.  The new provisions, however, will expire at the end of 2003. 

The Green Party opposed the legislation, and the Communist Party abstained from voting on the bill.  “France has today become a victim of collateral damage on its civil liberties as a result of the war in Afghanistan,” said Green deputy Noel Mamere.

The bill, however, “is not detrimental to our freedom to fight terrorism.  On the contrary, to do nothing would be detrimental,” said French Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant (Karachi Business Recorder, Nov. 1).

Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien opposed adding a sunset clause to antiterrorism legislation under consideration in the House of Commons and Senate, as debate over limiting the bill continued (see GSN, Oct. 31).  Chretien said adding an expiration date to the bill would interfere with police investigations that can require years of work. 

“I think he pretty well closed the door on the sunset clause.  But I don’t think MPs have given up,” said one Canadian parliament member (Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, Nov. 1).

Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal expressed his continuing support for a sunset clause yesterday at a Liberal Party caucus meeting, despite Chretien’s request at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that ministers stop publicly arguing over the bill (Nahlah Ayed, Canadian Press/Miami Herald, Oct. 31).

The Canadian Bar Association recommended yesterday the antiterrorism legislation include a sunset clause and called Chretien’s suggestion of a review of the bill in three years insufficient.  Simon Potter, first vice president of the CBA, yesterday called the bill “draconian” (Allison Dunfield, Globe and Mail, Oct. 31).

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci said yesterday the United States believes Canada has made significant progress toward meeting U.S. security concerns relating to the U.S.-Canada border but still should follow through on some proposals.  Cellucci added that traffic between the two countries would likely remain slow for some months, although border crossings should speed up eventually as new technology allowed for more efficiency while also meeting security requirements.  U.S. President George W. Bush has also called on Canada to negotiate how to harmonize immigration and customs rules with the United States (Campbell Clark, Globe and Mail, Nov. 1).

Worldwide Bioterrorism Preparation

The United Kingdom has been negotiating with the manufacturer of Cipro, Bayer, to buy the drug, which the United States uses to treat early stages of anthrax, according to the London Independent Tuesday (see related GSN story, today). 

“We are reviewing our stocks and supplies of a broad range of antibiotics and vaccines and talking to manufacturers.  The goal is to ensure that we have sufficient stockpiles to cope with the release of a broad range of biological agents, including anthrax and smallpox,” said a Health Department spokesman.

Bayer has also been discussing Cipro sales to France (see related GSN story, today).  “Because the U.K. and French governments are involved in the Afghanistan war, these countries seem to be a little more concerned than others.  So far we have had only short contact with them about potential supply, but it has been forward-looking,” said a Bayer spokesman (Foley/Butler, London Independent, Oct. 30).

Meanwhile, disaster experts from several Latin American and Caribbean countries met at the Pan American Health Organization and recommended last week that countries should increase disaster response capabilities to include cases of biological attacks (PAHO release, Oct. 26).

Other Countries

The South Korean government and ruling party have called for antiterrorism legislation and a revision of its hazardous chemical control act in response to terrorism concerns, South Korean officials said last week, adding the government also planned to include funds in the next year’s budget to combat terrorism, including the establishment of a nationwide emergency response system, vaccine research and buying protective gear (Hwang Jang-jin, Korea Herald, Oct. 26).

Representatives from 11 Mediterranean countries (see GSN, Oct. 30) met last week to create a common strategy to fight terrorism in light of the Sept. 11 attacks (Karachi Business Recorder, Oct. 26).

A group of Central American countries approved antiterrorism measures last week to prevent states or individuals in the region from attacking other countries.  Measures will include migration and arms transportation controls, increased border security and calls for information exchange to combat money laundering by radical groups (Reuters/New York Times, Oct. 25).

Hungary announced earlier this month it had installed air defense missiles in certain parts of the country as part of tightened security after the Sept. 11 attacks (BBC Monitoring/European Internet Network, Oct. 11).

Other countries that have increased antiterrorism, security and nonproliferation measures since the Sept. 11 attacks include China (CNN, Oct. 26), Spain (El Pais/Global News Wire, Oct. 17), Russia (Interfax, Oct. 1 in FBIS-SOV, Oct. 2), Australia (Mark Dunn, Herald Sun, Oct. 3), Japan (Xinhuanet, Oct. 5), Thailand (Xinhuanet, Oct. 19) and Greece (Xinhuanet, Oct. 5).

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