U.S. keen on expanded role for U.N. in Afghanistan

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 17. The Bush administration appears to be very keen and serious that the United Nations should have an expanded role in Afghanistan, politically and economically. In a series of meetings over the next several days, Washington will be apprising the U.N. of its plans and listening to its ideas.

On Thursday, the new administration's pointsman for Afghanistan, Mr. Richard Haass, will be in New York, meeting, among others, the Secretary General's, Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi. He is also expected to meet the U.N. Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, and other senior officials. The following day Mr. Brahimi will be in Washington for a meeting with the Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Richard Armitage.

The Republican administration is trying to give the impression that its political component for Afghanistan is not lagging too far behind the military strikes. Washington is involved in a strategy of not only breaking the backbone of the Taliban militia, but also trying to cobble together a political frame- work that will be acceptable to all, especially Afghanistan's immediate neighbours.

The Bush administration has also made it known that the U.S. will be involved in a major fashion in nation-building in Afghanistan. This is a marked departure in policy, given that the Republicans had constantly criticised the nation-building initiatives of the Clinton administration.

On the military front, the United States is intensifying its attacks on Kabul and Kandahar with the usual focus on the targets that include military garrisons and fuel and transport centres. On Tuesday the Pentagon said all four aircraft carriers in the area participated in the air strikes.

Separately the Pentagon also admitted of inadvertently striking a Red Cross warehouse. ``U.S.forces did not know that ICRC was using one or more of the warehouses,'' the Pentagon said. But the administration is adamantly insisting that it does not have a policy of going after civilians and calling the Taliban's claims as ridiculous.

There are also reports surfacing here that the U.S. air strikes have considerably softened the ground for the Northern Alliance and that the Opposition forces are within striking distance of taking on the strategic area in and around Mazar-e-Sharif. The Taliban is saying that its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, is alive and well and there are no divisions in the ranks.

The Opposition is saying that the Taliban militia is on the run; its military assets substantially damaged in the U.S. strikes; its ranks demoralised and breaking up. According to U.S. officials since the bombing started on October 7, more than 2000 bombs and missiles have been dropped. And in recent days the U.S. has started using the AC-130s to have more intense and precision firepower.

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Section  : International
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