| The leader of the Northern Alliance, Burhanuddin RABBANI, who is recognized throughout the world as the legitimate president of Afghanistan, gave an exclusive interview on Tuesday evening by telephone from Kabul to the special correspondent of the Vremya Novostei newspaper Elena SUPONINA.
- Dr. Rabbani, is Osama Bin Laden still in Afghanistan?
- Yes. We are sure of this. Bin Laden, according to our information, is in Afghanistan. It is known where: in the Kandahar region, in a remote mountainous area. There is a whole mountain range that stretches for several hundred kilometers, it goes around several provinces and is also high. There are many caves there, this is a problematic area. But once we occupy Kandahar, it will be difficult for this man to stay even there.
- Would you like to talk to Bin Laden if he were arrested?
“I think it should be immediately handed over to the international court.”
— There are still conflicting reports about whether the radical leader from Uzbekistan, who fought on the side of the Taliban, Juma Namangani, was killed or not?
- Yes. We know that he was killed.
-- Where?
- In Mazar-i-Sharif. (The commander of the Afghan operation, American General Tommy Franks, said yesterday in Tashkent that Namangani is alive. - Ed. )
-- An international conference on the future of Afghanistan opens in Berlin on Monday. Will you be participating in it?
- We will send a delegation to Berlin. I personally won’t go, but one of these days we will choose from several candidates. Although, in general, this meeting is intended to discuss important, but not the main problems. The main issues should still be discussed not outside, but inside Afghanistan. It’s just that this is the first attempt to discuss pressing issues with each other and with the UN. I told the UN representative for Afghanistan that I prefer to hold such meetings within the country. (This was the representative of the UN Secretary General Francesc Vendrell. - Ed. ) But he asked to send a delegation, and we agreed, wishing that this would be the last conference of this kind outside of Afghanistan. Because in Kabul and our other cities there are now all the conditions for holding various events. Our delegation in Berlin will first invite other delegates to Afghanistan so that we can negotiate here to achieve mutually beneficial results.
--Can representatives of the Taliban join the coalition government of Afghanistan?
-- The Taliban as an organization is over. Since they hosted terrorists, they can no longer exist as an organization. But among the Taliban there are some who can personally be considered as someone who can be dealt with. Not in the government itself, but at some other levels, and then we’ll see. We are talking about individual people, each case will be studied separately. But we are by no means talking about the Taliban as a movement. He's gone. And he cannot have any role in the future.
- Why are you against the participation of the deposed Afghan king Zahir Shah in the government of Afghanistan?
- This is not about opposition. My suggestion: you can’t give preference to anyone in advance. The people must nominate candidates, and we must think about how to do this on the territory of Afghanistan itself, and not outside its borders. In principle, one of the royal family members could join the government. (According to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, first of all we are talking about the king’s grandson Mustafa. - Ed. ) But they are also not a single group, there are different people there, there are respectable sheikhs who can no longer work actively. But if someone is capable, then there are no fundamental objections. We will not interfere with anyone. We have only one condition: that political leadership be determined by free elections, no matter in what form. These are either general elections or elections at the level of the grand council - loya jirga. (Meeting of authoritative figures. - Ed. )
- When will the loya jirga be?
- This will take time. We need meetings and meetings with other delegations.
-- Should the majority in the Afghan government be made up of Pashtuns? Are you Tajik?
- The people will decide. Whoever he chooses - Pashtuns, Tajiks - will join the government. There should be no preferences on a tribal basis.
- Sorry, but you have already formed your administration! They appointed ministers of justice, defense, foreign affairs... What does this mean?
- We continue to be the official government of Afghanistan. And they must exercise powers until a new government is formed. We cannot allow a power vacuum to exist. There are famous leaders, our allies, whose troops entered Kabul even faster than ours. We do not infringe on anyone. But we need to be realistic, every day we are faced with problems that need to be solved: security, protection, economic restoration. You cannot give up everything even for a day, this will lead to anarchy, this is not in the interests of the people. And now there is no one except us to take on the responsibility of preventing anarchy.
— Does your provisional government enjoy the support of the population?
- Previously, when we were still a political movement, our popularity in areas where Pashtuns live was even higher than in non-Pashtun areas. In Kandahar, Kunar, Khanafigulman, and other Pashtun regions, we had strong influence. It still exists. Although foreign interference, incitement against us, and the arming of our opponents played a role, and a movement against us began in a number of Pashtun regions. But despite this, we are popular among Pashtuns and other nationalities.
- Pakistan helped the Taliban. Would you like to establish a relationship with him?
- We are going to improve relations with all neighbors, including Pakistan. We need to open a new page in relations with Pakistan.
— There are riots in the territories that you control, Northern Alliance fighters shot Taliban prisoners without trial, right there, which is unacceptable...
- In every country there are vicious cases. Remember, when the Taliban took Mazar-i-Sharif, they killed not a thousand, not two, but tens of thousands of people. If we had allowed revenge and anarchy for this, there would have been hundreds killed. But this was not the case. And most of these acts are committed by individual Taliban who penetrate into the zones of our control. But these are isolated cases; journalists exaggerated everything too much.
— Is it true that you are against foreign troops and military bases in Afghanistan? What did you refuse to the French and British?
- We are not against the military presence of our allies, but only for purposes limited to the provision of humanitarian assistance. And we don’t need other people’s military contingents. The Afghan people are tired of the roar of bombers and the roar of artillery guns. He wants peace. He needs an army to take up construction. And not these contingents. The Taliban is finished. Our task is to restore the country. We would like the international community to help rebuild Afghanistan.
- How many millions do you need for this?
- We're talking about billions! Afghanistan and its infrastructure are all destroyed.
- Still, it is proposed to send international troops into Afghanistan, say, under the auspices of the UN. The Turks offered their units. Do you agree with this?
-- Peace is being established in Afghanistan. We hope that when the fighting subsides, peace will reign forever and there will be no need for international troops. If she appears, which I doubt, then we will negotiate.
—What are you negotiating with the Russian delegation in Kabul about?
- The arrival of the Russian delegation is a consequence of our agreements with President Putin. I recently met with him and we discussed various issues, including bilateral relations. We have very good relations with the Russian Federation. She supported us in resisting the Taliban. We discuss the future of Afghanistan and the opening of the Russian embassy in Kabul. We hope it will soon be operating in the same building where it was before. The house is dilapidated and needs repairs. But we will not wait, and before the Russian ambassador moves into the renovated building, he will be able to work in another. Not in the very center, but on the outskirts of Kabul. But still, it is in Kabul.
-- Do you intend to visit Moscow?
- Yes, I really want to visit Moscow. The timing of the visit has not yet been determined, but there is a desire.
— Is the assistance provided to you by Russia sufficient?
- We need humanitarian assistance more now. As for military equipment, the Russian Ministry of Defense has already provided us with some things, but we have not yet received some, and we are asking what exactly will come and when.
--Are there military experts from Russia present?
-- No.
— There are people in Russia, although not many of them, who are afraid of your old connections with the Muslim Brotherhood organization...
- Afghans are Muslims, in this regard we have our own principles. But this is not a problem and will not affect cooperation with our friends. It's just that someone is trying to distort the truth and use it to harm us all. Interviewed by Elena SUPONINA
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