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| Afghan Opposition Leaders Discuss Multi-Ethnic Government |
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THU, OCT 25, 2001
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Afghanistan's opposition military commanders, political and religious leaders gathered in Peshawar on Wednesday for talks aimed at reaching an agreement on how to form a multi-ethnic government.
Meanwhile, a Taliban envoy to Pakistan returning to Kabul says that the Taliban will not hand over Osama bin Laden, even at the cost of every life in Afghanistan.
Afghan exiles searching for an elusive "southern alliance" to help topple the ruling Taliban urged the United States to stop its bombing and support the return of ex-king Zahir Shah.
Sayed Ahmad Gailani is a religious leader who convened a major strategy session in the Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar.
He told about 800 exiles that the US-led military campaign was killing innocent civilians, and what Afghanistan needed was reconstruction following two decades of devastating civil war.
Gailani also invited dissenters from the Taliban to provide help in the transition to a broad-based government.
He suggested a caretaker government under Shah, and UN peace keepers organised from Islamic countries be deployed across the country.
Gailani made no mention of the Northern Alliance, a group of mostly ethnic minorities that have been fighting the Taliban since they were driven out of Kabul in 1996.
In Islamabad, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef said his countrymen will kill as many Americans as possible to revenge the killing of Afghans.
The envoy also ruled out handing over Osama bin Laden, insisting his country was ready to fight to the last drop of its blood in defence of honour.
According to the United Nations, there are an estimated one million Afghans attempting to flee the country, and most of them are trapped along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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