Sattar pushes for Afghan peace talks
Mutawakkil renews support to Chechnya, desires warm ties with Iran, calls for Kashmir settlement

Frontier Post

From SIKANDER HAYAT
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Monday impressed upon the Taliban leadership the imperative of resuming negotiations with the Northern Alliance, particularly by securing greater involvement of Iran in the peace process.
The Pakistani position was conveyed to visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakkil by his counterpart Abdul Sattar at the Foreign Office. Mutawakkil flew into Islamabad on Sunday for consultations on bilateral and regional issues.
Abdul Sattar briefed the Afghan leader on Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf's recent visit to Teheran, during which Iran agreed to work closely with Pakistan on promoting durable peace in Afghanistan.
US official Karl Inderfurth on Friday welcomed Gen. Musharraf's plan to engage Iran in the Afghan peace efforts and remarked that Washington was encouraged by the Pakistani initiative.
Addressing a news conference here after his meeting with Abdul Sattar, the Taliban foreign minister, who donned a white turban, observed that his government would welcome "individual or joint" efforts by Teheran to obtain conditions conducive to durable peace in Afghanistan.
He told reporters that an Iranian team was currently in Kandahar for discussions on re-opening of their embassy in Kabul. The relations between Iran and Afghanistan began to improve last year when Teheran opened its border to help Afghans import food items to overcome faminish shortages.
Matters relating to transit trade, cross-border smuggling and drug-trafficking as well as ways and means of enhancing economic collaboration were also discussed at the meeting in the Foreign Office.
Sattar assured the visiting Afghan official that in spite of resource constraints that Pakistan was hemmed in, Islamabad would spare no effort towards the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan.
At the news conference, Mutawakkil said that the hijackers of the Indian plane were not in his country. "We had given the hijackers 10 hours to leave Afghanistan. They have left and none of them is inside Afghanistan; we don't know where they are now."
About the whereabouts of Maulana Masood Azhar, who was freed by India in exchange for more than 150 hostages, Mutwakkil remarked that no Afghan diplomatic mission had issued him any visa. "If Maulana Masood Azhar applies for Afghan visa, we will have no legal problem (granting it)," he hastened to add.
He also drew a sharp distinction between terrorism and jehad, explaining that last year's bomb blasts in Kandahar were an act of terrorism, but the war the Afghans had waged against the Russians in the wake of the Soviet invasion in 1979 was jehad.
With regard to alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden, he asserted that Taliban authorities had restricted the Arab dissident's movement and withdrawn all his communication facilities. "Pakistan has not asked Taliban to expel Osama from Afghanistan," he continued.
To a query, the Afghan minister underlined an early settlement of the Kashmir dispute under the auspices of the United Nations or the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Agencies add: Mutawakkil said he hoped for new peace proposals from the new head of the United Nations special mission in Afghanistan. Francesc Vendrell, newly appointed, will visit within three weeks. "We will see if he has new proposals or ideas."
Mutawakel said he had hoped to hold talks during his visit here with Iranian officials, but it had not been possible. "We are optimistic that we will be meeting them in the future."
The Taliban minister said the most pressing issue in the world now was the Chechen crisis, adding that the militia would consider giving further aid in the future, although he refused to be specific.
Asked if the Taliban would supply troops or military aid to the Chechen fighters, he said: "Maybe we will sign an accord but I don't know whether it will consist of these things or not."
He called for the exclusion of the United States and Russia from the "six-plus-two" and inclusion of Afghanistan in the eight-member UN body.