Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations said that a post-Taliban government could include moderate members of the fundamentalist regime, an apparent softening of his stance of earlier in the week. Ravan Farhadi, who spoke on Saturday, represents the former Afghan government, which ruled between 1992 and 1996, and is still recognized by the United Nations but not by the United States. It is part of the northern-based opposition Alliance fighting the Taliban. On Thursday, Farhadi said in a note to the US state department that he vehemently opposes Secretary of State Colin Powell's suggestion that moderate elements of the Taliban might have a role in a future government in Kabul. The Taliban have given not only shelter to (Osama) bin Laden but they facilitated his international terroristic acts, Farhadi told reporters in New York after handing the note to Richard n Haass, the state department's director of policy planning, who is Powell's coordinator for Afghanistan. We don't agree with Powell because we think that the Taliban leaders ... Need to be (on) trial in a court.
Bureau Report