Afghanistan: Berlin Meeting Not Only Symbolic

Following an announcement by U.N. Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell that Afghan factions will meet in Berlin beginning Monday to discuss their country's political future, Special Representative for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi said yesterday that fewer than 30 leaders representing four distinct Afghan constituencies will be present at the meeting.

Each of the four groups—the Northern Alliance, former King Zahir Shah's supporters, the "Cyprus group" of 100 politicians and tribal leaders and a group of mainly monarchist southern Afghans—is "claiming to be fully representative of the whole of Afghanistan," Brahimi said.

"I very, very much hope that out of this meeting, which is not, hopefully, only symbolic, we will take some concrete decisions and steps," he said, referring to Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani's characterization of the talks as only "symbolic."  Rabbani, whose Northern Alliance-allied government is recognized by the United Nations, has returned from exile and installed himself as head of state in the capital, Kabul.

"We are rather encouraged by what we've heard from the various parties, and we hope that this will be the beginning we've been looking for to end the conflict in Afghanistan and start building new institutions for the country," Brahimi said, adding that not only government but also security will be discussed (Associated Press/MSNBC.com, Nov. 20).

U.N. Security Council President Patricia Durrant yesterday welcomed the meeting's convening in a statement on behalf of the council.  The talks are an "indispensable first step towards the establishment of a broad-based representative government in Afghanistan," the council said, encouraging parties to take part "in good faith and without preconditions" (U.N. release, Nov. 20).

Asked about the Berlin meeting, British U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock Monday told Gwen Ifill of PBS's NewsHour that "the first step in a long journey is the most important one."  For a transcript of Ifill's interview with Greenstock, click here.

For a Sydney Morning Herald profile of Vendrell, including a potential "myth" according to which the special envoy once worked in a squalid South American refugee camp wearing a three-piece suit with a carnation in his lapel, click here.  For a Vendrell profile from BBC Online, which says the Spaniard is "no stranger to working in areas where long-standing conflicts have had to be resolved," click here.

Adviser Stresses Women's Roles

Afghan women—long repressed under the recently ruling Taliban and apparently not invited to next week's talks—should be included "as full partners in the decision-making process around the peace table, in humanitarian efforts and in reconstruction of the country," U.N. Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women Angela King said yesterday at a New York panel discussion on the subject.  King said women were "professors, lawyers and judges ... journalists, writers and poets" in Afghanistan until about 10 years ago and called on donor governments to "insist that gender is mainstreamed" before offering aid to Afghanistan (U.N. Newservice, Nov. 20).

In related news, AP reports that former Herat province Governor Ismail Khan, who has returned to Herat and taken over since the Taliban's fall there, yesterday convened a meeting of 80 female teachers and social workers, asking them to be his "advisers for the reconstruction of our country and the rehabilitation of our people" (Afshin Valinejad, AP/Miami Herald, Nov. 21).  Khan is reportedly planning local elections in Herat but said he has no "desire for power" himself (AP/Globe and Mail, Nov. 21).

U.N. Refuses to Mediate in Kunduz

As Northern Alliance forces continued to surround the Taliban-controlled city of Kunduz, Brahimi yesterday said the Taliban has asked the United Nations to negotiate a surrender but that the world body "cannot, has no means, is not present on the ground and simply cannot possibly accede to this request" (CNN.com, Nov. 20).  Northern Alliance officials told CNN they expected a meeting today in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, between alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostum and two Taliban commanders from Kunduz (CNN.com, Nov. 21).

U.S. commander in Afghanistan General Tommy Franks said today that the United States and Northern Alliance "will prevail" in Kunduz, but could not say how long the battle will last (Ellen Knickmeyer, AP/Yahoo! News, Nov. 21).  In Washington, John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States will stop bombing Kunduz if the Northern Alliance asks it to do so (BBC Online, Nov. 21).

Franks met yesterday with Northern Alliance leaders (Sebastian Alison, Reuters/Miami Herald, Nov. 21).

Diplomatic Activity Resumes

Iran has reopened its embassy in Kabul five years after closing it, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday (AP/Miami Herald, Nov. 21).  An Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said India has sent a mission to the Afghan capital to consider "the option of reviving diplomatic relations" (Reuters II/Miami Herald, Nov. 21).

Bin Laden Reportedly Seeks Martyrdom

Taliban guest Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of being behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks and hunted by U.S. special forces in Afghanistan, has taken steps to ensure himself a martyr's death, ordering top aides to kill him if capture by U.S. or other elements seems imminent, the New York Post reports (Niles Lathem, New York Post, Nov. 21).

Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef yesterday said bin Laden was in Kabul when it fell to Northern Alliance forces but that the Taliban does not now know where he is (South China Morning Post, Nov. 21).  Taliban spokesman Tayab Agha today said the Taliban now has "no relation" and "no communication" with bin Laden (Reuters III/Miami Herald, Nov. 21).

The Taliban has responded to a $25 million reward offered to Afghans by the United States for the handing over of Taliban Supreme Leader Mohamed Omar by placing a $50 million bounty on the head of U.S. President George W. Bush, Taliban security head in Spin Buldak, Afghanistan, Mohamed Saeed Haqqani said today (Agence France-Presse/Times of India, Nov. 21).

Annan Concerned for Civilians after Journalist Slayings

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday said he is "acutely concerned" about the safety of civilians and of surrendered and surrendering combatants in Afghanistan.  Annan said he is "particularly appalled" by the killing yesterday of four foreign journalists on the road from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to Kabul and called on all parties to respect human rights and international law (U.N. release II, Nov. 20).

Citing the accounts of survivors, the London Guardian reports today that the journalists were slain by Taliban soldiers or forces loyal to bin Laden.  A driver of one of the vehicles the journalists were riding in said they were told, "We are still in power and we will have our revenge" (Owen Bowcott, London Guardian, Nov. 21).

The Italian daily La Repubblica reports that Rabbani's "police" forces have accused armed groups loyal to Hizbe Islami-Gulbuddin leader and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyr of involvement in the killings, which the police said took place on territory controlled by gangs of Hekmatyr supporters (Renato Caprile, La Repubblica, Nov. 21, UN Wire translation).

Claiming the move will reduce security risks to journalists and others, the United Nations yesterday said it will offer air transportation to journalists, diplomats and relief workers who wish to travel into or out of Afghanistan.  Because of high insurance costs, the world body said, the cost of a one-way ticket from Islamabad, Pakistan, to Bagram air base in Afghanistan will be $2,500 (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Nov. 21).

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Afghanistan:  Concern For Kunduz

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is "very concerned" about the besieged city of Kunduz, Afghanistan, where rebel Northern Alliance forces aided by U.S. bombing have surrounded the city and are seeking a surrender by troops from the recently ruling Taliban, but the United Nations has not been asked to mediate a surrender, a U.N. spokesman said yesterday.

"The secretary general, (who) is very concerned about the situation, has been in touch with the coalition forces, which have the capacity to deal with the situation," Manoel de Almeida e Silva said in New York, adding that U.N. Special Representative for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi has discussed the situation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and with Deputy Special Representative Francesc Vendrell, who is in Kabul (U.N. Newservice, Nov. 19).

The Northern Alliance today said it will launch an all-out assault on Kunduz if Taliban forces there do not surrender within three days.  Non-Afghan soldiers aligned with Osama bin Laden, the Taliban guest accused by the United States of being behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, are preventing Taliban fighters from surrendering, Northern Alliance spokesman Attiq Ulah said from Mazar-e Sharif.

"If there is a fight in Kunduz, it will be a bloody one," Ulah said, "because there are 3,000 foreign fighters, and they have nowhere to go" (Kathy Gannon, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Nov. 20).

Northern Alliance commander Abdul Rashid Dostum is to meet in Mazar-e Sharif with two Taliban commanders to discuss safe passage for Taliban troops in Kunduz, Reuters reports.  Dostum said foreigners, though, will be treated differently from Taliban soldiers.  "We'll deal with the foreigners according to international laws and human rights conventions," he said (Russell/Elsner, Reuters, Nov. 20).

Mohamed Daoud, the Northern Alliance general in charge of the Kunduz offensive, said today that he is "not optimistic that foreign Taliban and some of the Taliban leaders are ready to surrender," adding that "war is essential" if they do not (Ellen Knickmeyer, AP/Miami Herald, Nov. 20).

Washington yesterday took a hard line on the Taliban in Kunduz, with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stressing the danger of freeing non-Afghan fighters loyal to bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.  "My hope is that they will either be killed or taken prisoner," he said.  "They're people who have done terrible things."

Rumsfeld also expressed opposition to any deal that would allow Taliban Supreme Leader Mohamed Omar to escape from the Taliban's southern home base, the besieged city of Kandahar (Reynolds/Richter, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 20).  The New York Post reports today that Northern Alliance and Taliban officials have been discussing a deal under which Omar would go free and the alliance would get Kandahar (Niles Lathem, New York Post, Nov. 20).

The Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias reports that Juma Namangani, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, has been killed in Kunduz, where he had come with hundreds of his men to aid the Taliban (Diario de Noticias, Nov. 20, UN Wire translation).

The Taliban also suffered a loss on the diplomatic front yesterday.  Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar said Pakistan will no longer "conduct business between the government of Pakistan and whatever is left of the Taliban government," adding that "relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan continue, and they will be maintained according to our best intentions."  Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef has been allowed to stay in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad (Amir Zia, AP/Miami Herald, Nov. 19).  Islamabad has shut down Taliban consulates in Peshawar and Quetta, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said (Raja Asghar, Reuters, Nov. 20).

Meanwhile, the United States continues to hunt for bin Laden.  U.S. President George W. Bush has said "the noose is beginning to narrow" around bin Laden, and Rumsfeld yesterday said a $25 million reward for turning over the al-Qaeda chief or any of several senior lieutenants may inspire Afghans to "begin crawling through those tunnels and caves" looking for him.  U.S. planes are dropping leaflets over Afghanistan advertising the reward (Robert Burns, AP/Yahoo! News, Nov. 19).

Berlin Meeting to Begin Monday, Vendrell Says

Vendrell today said the Northern Alliance has agreed to meet next week in Berlin with other relevant parties to discuss Afghanistan's political future.  The deputy special representative expressed hope that the meeting will start Monday, while Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah called that "tentative timing" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, Nov. 20).

Vendrell, who has been holding talks with various parties about the proposed meeting, met last night with Abdullah, Defense Minister Mohamed Fahim and Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni (U.N. release, Nov. 20).

The U.N. envoy met Sunday with Burhanuddin Rabbani, the president of the country's U.N.-recognized government, of which the Northern Alliance is the military wing and which the Taliban unseated when it took power (U.N. Newservice).  U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said yesterday in Islamabad that the government headed by Rabbani, who has entered Kabul and declared himself head of state, will retain Afghanistan's U.N. seat until a new government is formed (Out There News, Nov. 19).

Speaking Saturday in Ottawa after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Annan said, "We are trying to get all the Afghan parties together. ... Obviously, we hope all Afghan parties and leaders will understand the need to form a broad-based government and set up an administration in Kabul that will be acceptable by all" (U.N. Newservice).

De Almeida e Silva said yesterday that Northern Alliance leaders have asked the United Nations to find representatives of the Pashtun ethnic group, from which the Taliban draws most of its members, to participate in the constitution of a new government (Kathy Gannon, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 20).

At a meeting presided over by anti-Taliban Pashtun leader Sayed Ahmad Gailani, the Assembly for Peace and National Unity, a grouping of 18 Afghan groups, yesterday called for representative government for the country (Out There News II, Nov. 19).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky yesterday at the White House stressed the need for women to participate fully in Afghanistan's future.  For a U.S. State Department transcript of their remarks, click here.

Malloch Brown Vows Quick Start on Recovery

Mark Malloch Brown, named Friday by Annan to head U.N. reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, yesterday promised to act quickly.  "The system is braced and poised for a major effort here, and what I can do is offer it the leadership at the global level and try to make sure that we have a strong partnership with others," Malloch Brown said in New York (U.N. Newservice II, Nov. 19).  The U.N. Development Program administrator added that rebuilding Afghanistan will take more than $6.5 billion over five years (Hoyos/Cottrell, Financial Times, Nov. 20).

An Afghan reconstruction meeting co-sponsored by the United States and Japan and attended by donors and international organizations was to take place today in Washington (AP/ABCNews.com, Nov. 20).  A three-day conference on "preparing for Afghanistan's reconstruction," hosted by the UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, begins next Tuesday in Islamabad.  More than 200 participants are expected (World Bank release, Nov. 19).

Journalists' Bodies Recovered

The bodies of four foreign journalists apparently slain yesterday by pro-Taliban elements as they traveled from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to Kabul were recovered and identified today.  The journalists killed were identified as Harry Burton and Azizullah Haidari of Reuters, Maria Grazia Cutuli of the Corriere della Sera and Julio Fuentes of El Mundo (Chris Tomlinson, AP/Miami Herald, Nov. 20).

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British Response:  Controversial Anti-Terrorism Law Approved

British legislators yesterday approved an anti-terrorism bill which could violate human rights treaties, according to the Associated Press.

The Anti-Terrorism, Security and Crime Bill passed a second reading in the House of Commons 485-5.  The legislation includes measures such as powers to detain suspected terrorists and the ability to freeze suspected terrorists’ funds. It also makes incitement of religious hatred a crime.  The bill must pass one more House of Commons vote and be approved by the House of Lords before it can become law.

The new legislation was a “rational, reasonable and proportionate response” to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said British Home Secretary David Blunkett.  “Circumstances and public opinion demanded urgent and appropriate action,” Blunkett said.

Some human rights lawyers, however, have questioned whether the bill’s measure to detain suspects without trial violates the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the Britain is a signatory.  The convention bans the indefinite detainment of suspects without trial, but has a provision that countries may opt out during war or other public emergencies, according to the AP. 

Britain, however, did not qualify for the exception, human rights lawyer David Pannick said in a legal opinion for the British civil liberties group Liberty.

“There [have] been no terrorist incidents in this country associated with the Sept. 11 attacks,” Pannick said. “Indeed, there have been grave terrorist outrages in England in recent years (attributed to the Irish Republican Army) which did not lead the government to conclude that detention without trial is appropriate” (Polly Stewart, Associated Press/Miami Herald, Nov. 19).

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U.S. Response: 

State legislators throughout the United States are considering proposals to grant broad powers to state governments in the event of bioterrorist attacks, the Washington Post reported today.  In the United States, police powers to protect the public during disease outbreaks generally belong to states and not to the federal government, according to the Post (Justin Gillis, Washington Post, Nov. 19).

Many lawmakers are considering legislation based on a model law written by Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin and Johns Hopkins University public health professor Stephen Teret and approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Nancy Shute, USNews.com, Nov. 19).

Current state laws are often brief, granting emergency powers such as quarantine to health authorities with only a paragraph or a sentence, according to the Post. Laws based on the Gostin and Teret model would allow authorities to impose large-scale quarantines and mandatory medical exams, vaccination and treatment (see GSN, Nov. 8). Officials could also destroy contaminated property—including corpses—without the owners’ consent and forcibly seize hospitals, other businesses and medical supplies. The model law would require that governments compensate property owners for their losses.

The legislation proposed by Gostin and Teret would also require various authorities to share information that could help them recognize and investigate bioterrorist attacks. For example, a pharmacist who noticed a sudden increase in sales of medicine for a suspicious symptom would be required to tell the health department and provide the names and addresses of the patients, the Post reported.

Current state laws often prohibit private businesses from sharing information with health authorities and prohibit health authorities from sharing information with state police, according to the Post.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has backed the legislative proposals, and several state attorneys general, governors and other groups have also provided advice, the Post reported. Some critics have complained, however, that the 40 pages of proposals are too complicated to be an improvement upon the simpler existing laws, according to the Post (Justin Gillis, Washington Post, Nov. 19).

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U.S. Response: APHA Calls For More Funding

The American Public Health Association has asked U.S. President George W. Bush to provide $10 billion over the next five years to U.S. public health departments to prepare for bioterrorism (see GSN, Nov. 5), the Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA reported yesterday. State health departments are currently preparing to spend $250 million to respond to the recent anthrax incidents, the APHA said.

Almost 25 percent of local public health agencies have no response plan for bioterrorism incidents, according to a survey released by the National Association of County and City Health Officials.  The survey also found that only 20 percent of local public health departments have a plan in place while 56 percent have one in development.

“Public health departments nationwide are not fully prepared to handle these growing bioterrorist attacks,” said APHA Director Mohammad Akhter.  “The demands to investigate these latest anthrax cases are rapidly outpacing our ability to act.  We need urgent action on this funding” (Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA/NewsRx.net, Nov. 18).

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