POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: U.N. Sending Envoy as Crisis Worsens

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 12 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations, largely absent from Afghanistan since late August, is sending special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the strife-torn nation this week to meet leaders of the ruling Taliban movement.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard announced that, because of the “dangerous level of tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Taliban”, Brahimi will make an “exceptional” one-day visit to Kandahar on Oct 14 to meet Taliban officials.

“The Taliban leadership has given Mr Brahimi assurances that they will address seriously unresolved U.N. concerns, in particular Taliban’s sharing of information of their investigation into the killing of Lt Col (Carmine) Calo,” Eckhard said Monday.

Calo was shot to death Aug 22, two days after U.S. forces struck several sites in Taliban-held Afghanistan with missiles. The raid was an effort to punish Afghan-based Saudi financier Osama bin Laden, who has been accused of involvement in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The United Nations withdrew all international staff from Afghanistan following the murder of Calo, which the Taliban has blamed on two Pakistanis residing in Kabul, the capital.

The Brahimi visit is the first sign that the United Nations might consider re-establishing its presence after a two-month hiatus in which tensions between Kabul and Teheran have worsened. Eckhard said that Brahimi will discuss security concerns over any “possible return” of U.N. staff to Afghanistan.

Iran has sent more than 200,000 troops to its border with Afghanistan in recent days, as the killing of nine Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan and reports of atrocities against ethnic Hazaras in Bamiyan and other Afghan provinces has stoked Teheran’s anger.

Although Iranian President Mohammed Khatami has argued that Teheran will rely on diplomacy to resolve its standoff, both nations have stepped up war rhetoric and troop movements even as the Taliban continues its sweep through most of Afghanistan.

In a report to the U.N. General Assembly released this week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted accounts from Amnesty International, among other human rights groups, that as many as 2,000 Hazaras – who, like the majority of Iranians, belong to Islam’s Shi’a sect – “may have been massacred by the Taliban”.

“The Taliban consistently have denied these allegations and indicated that their troops are under strict orders not to brutalise the population under their occupation,” Annan added, noting that U.N. officials are not currently in Afghanistan to confirm the massacre reports independently.

U.N. efforts to travel to Bamiyan to assess humanitarian needs there, however, have been delayed by the Taliban, who argue that air travel to the province is not yet possible.

Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, the Taliban’s U.N. representative, said recently that the runways at the Bamiyan airport have been damaged by heavy fighting, and need to be repaired before the U.S. mission can arrive.

Even if Brahimi’s visit this week makes some headway, officials here do not expect any immediate resumption of a full-scale U.N. presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s record of discrimination against women and minorities has alienated most aid workers, and there remain many outstanding disputes between the United Nations and Taliban – including the imprisonment without charge of three locally-recruited U.N. staffers in Kabul.

The Islamist militia movement is not the only one which has been criticised for the escalation of tensions in the region. U.N. officials, Annan said, have “received reports of a large number of non-Afghans, most of allegedly Pakistani origin, engaging in all aspects of fighting alongside the Taliban.”

The U.N. Special Mission to Afghanistan interviewed several captured fighters in Bamiyan who “admitted to being Pakistani, but they claimed to be independent and private adventurers fighting for a cause, without affiliation to any official institution of the Pakistani government,” Annan wrote.

Mushahid Hussein, communications minister of Pakistan, told IPS recently that Islamabad has no information about any of its nationals fighting in Afghanistan. Pakistan is believed to be the main supporter of the Taliban, despite denials from Islamabad of its assistance for any particular Afghan faction.

At the same time, the anti-Taliban United Front alliance, which has been supported by Iran and several Central Asian states, is also accused of committing atrocities against civilians in recent weeks. The United Front has shelled Kabul with at least 84 rockets since June often striking civilian areas and, at one point, narrowly missing a U.N. aircraft, Annan said.