PAKISTAN: PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT URGE UNITED NATIONS TO INTEVENE AND DEMILITARISE KABUL FROM NORTHERN ALLIANCE/ TALIBAN OFFICALS AT EMBASSY
Record ID:
337970
PAKISTAN: PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT URGE UNITED NATIONS TO INTEVENE AND DEMILITARISE KABUL FROM NORTHERN ALLIANCE/ TALIBAN OFFICALS AT EMBASSY
- Title: PAKISTAN: PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT URGE UNITED NATIONS TO INTEVENE AND DEMILITARISE KABUL FROM NORTHERN ALLIANCE/ TALIBAN OFFICALS AT EMBASSY
- Date: 13th November 2001
- Summary: (U4)ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (NOVEMBER 13, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN AZIZ AHMED KHAN 0.06 2. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) KHAN SAYING: "It is our hope that calm prevails and bloodshed is avoided. Pakistan holds to the view that the Northern Alliance forces must not occupy Kabul. Pakistan would like to see an early return to durable peace and stability to Afghanistan, past experience has already demonstrated that no single group or faction can bring peace to the country. We believe that a broad-based multi-ethnic representative dispensation, acceptable to all Afghans, and at peace with all its neighbours, established under the auspices of the United Nations, would be the best guarantee for peace in Afghanistan as well as for its unity and territorial integrity" 1.17 3. SMV JOURNALISTS 1.22 4. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) KHAN SAYING: "Pending the establishment of such a political dispensation, chosen by the Afghans themselves, Kabul should remain a demilitarised city under the control of a U.N. peacekeeping force or a multinational force authorised by the UN Security Council" 1.47 5. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 1.52 6. SLV EXTERIOR TALIBAN EMBASSY/GUARDS 1.56 7. SLV GUARDS OUTSIDE EMBASSY 2.01 8. SMV DEPUTY TALIBAN AMBASSADOR SOHAIL SHAHEEN GETTING INTO CAR AND DRIVING AWAY (2 SHOTS) 2.34 9. SLV NEWS CONFERENCE BY PIR SAYED AHMAD GAILANI, VETERAN OPPOSITION FIGURE AND ASSOCIATE OF THE FORMER KING 2.40 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto followed by English translation) PIR SAYED AHMAD GAILANI SAYING: "They have moved into Kabul because there was a vacuum of organisation inside Kabul as Taliban left the city. I hoped that we could have achieved a political solution before we came to that point. Now that they have moved in we are requesting and hope that the United Nations as soon as possible, as quickly as possible, moves in and starts laying out a system for a transition" (2 SHOTS) 3.49 11. SLV OF JOURNALISTS 3.54 12. SMV SOUNDBITE (Pashto followed by English translation) GAILANI SAYING: "As I said just before, there's no role for the Taliban" 4.05 13. SLV LORRY AND CAR FULL OF TALIBAN OFFICIALS LEAVING TALIBAN EMBASSY 4.23 14. SLV ONE GUARD OUTSIDE EMBASSY 4.29 15. SLV ANOTHER CAR WITH TALIBAN LEAVING EMBASSY 4.36 16. SMV MEN PRAYING INSIDE TALIBAN EMBASSY COMPOUND (2 SHOTS) 4.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th November 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Reuters ID: LVAAECPWFM7SIYMVM2N7UJJDJ2WZ
- Story Text: Pakistan has said it does not want the Northern
Alliance to occupy the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Meanwhile one of Afghanistan's main mujahideen guerrilla
leaders has called for urgent United Nations intervention to
help set up a post-Taliban government following the capture of
Kabul.
In Islamabad, the Taliban's sole foreign embassy remained
open, despite the absence of the ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef.
At a foreign ministry briefing in Islamabad on Tuesday
(November 13) the Pakistan government urged the Northern
Alliance not to occupy Kabul and appealed for the United
Nations to intervene and demilitarise the city.
The opposition Northern Alliance captured Kabul earlier in
the day despite international pressure to stay out of the city
until agreement was reached on a broad-based post-Taliban
government.
"It is our hope that calm prevails and bloodshed is
avoided," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told a
news conference.
"Pakistan holds to the view that the Northern Alliance
forces must not occupy Kabul," he said. "Pakistan would like
to see an early return to durable peace and stability to
Afghanistan."
He said that pending the establishment of a political
solution, Kabul should remain a demilitarised city under the
control of a U.N. peacekeeping force or a multinational force.
"We believe that a broad-based multi-ethnic representative
dispensation, acceptable to all Afghans, and at peace with all
its neighbours, established under the auspices of the United
Nations, would be the best guarantee for peace in Afghanistan
as well as for its unity and territorial integrity," he said.
Khan told reporters he did not know the whereabouts of the
Taliban ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef.
Zaeef was not seen at the Taliban embassy on Tuesday and
there were reports that he had left his residence for an
unknown location.
The deputy Taliban ambassador Sohail Shaheen spent the day
at the embassy, but he declined to make any comment to waiting
reporters.
The foreign ministry's call for UN intervention was backed
by one of Afghanistan's most revered tribal elders and a close
associate of the former king.
Veteran opposition leader Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani called
for urgent U.N. intervention to help establish a post-Taliban
government.
"They have moved into Kabul because there was a vacuum of
organisation," said Gailani.
Gailani comes from the dominant Pashtun tribes who backed
the Taliban rather than the ethnic minorities who support the
Northern Alliance but has been involved in negotiations to
establish a broad-based government to replace the Taliban.
"Now that they have moved in we are requesting and hope
that the United Nations as soon as possible, as quickly as
possible, moves in and starts laying out a system for a
transition," Gailani said.
Gailani, a religious figure who headed a guerrilla group
fighting to drive out Soviet invasion forces in the 1980s,
endorsed the idea of a neutral force of Muslim peacekeepers
coming into Kabul under the U.N. umbrella. He also said there
could be no role for the Taliban in any future administration.
Meanwhile, the Taliban embassy continued to operate as
normal. Throughout the day, Taliban officials could be seen
going in and out of the embassy and pausing for prayer.
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