Thursday, October 25, 2001

Powell: No nation can dictate postwar govt.
By Barry Schweid
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin Powell is ruling out a dominant role for Pakistan or any other nation in Afghanistan’s postwar government.

Even the United States cannot run the South Asian country, Powell told the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday. “It won’t work if any one country dictates what the future of the government will look like,” Powell said.

Pakistan, next door to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, has played a role in the U.S. conflict with the Taliban and the al-Qaida terrorism network. In the past, it has asserted its influence over its neighbor.

“The next government of Afghanistan cannot be dictated into being by Pakistan,” he said. Rather, with the United Nations taking the lead, all of Afghanistan’s neighbors, and also such countries as China and Russia, must be consulted, Powell said.

Before going to Capitol Hill, Powell plotted a postwar government in Afghanistan with chief ally Britain, while Canada sought to persuade the White House to streamline border security.

As Powell met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, he told reporters the aim was to put in place in Kabul “a broad-based government” and help the people of Afghanistan “get on a path of a better life in a post-Taliban regime.”

Straw, in turn, said, “We’ve done a great deal of thinking on both sides of the Atlantic about the future of Afghanistan.”

While its precise form is not clear, “I think we can see the building blocks that are necessary to secure a stable and safe future for that country,” Straw said.

In an aside, the foreign secretary said it was instinctive for Britain to fight alongside the United States. On two occasions, he said, referring to World Wars I and II, “the United States came to our aid.”

If the United States had not responded in a time of need, “we would not enjoy the freedoms which we do in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe and throughout the rest of the world,” Straw said.

After their meeting at the State Department, Powell planned to brief the House International Relations Committee.

At the White House, Canadian Foreign Minister John Manley asked for a resumption of initiatives to streamline border security that were put on hold after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a private meeting attended by top officials of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Manley also told Tom Ridge, director of President Bush’s homeland security office, that Canada sympathized with American fears about anthrax-tainted letters and is bracing for the same.

“There’s no reason to believe we would not be a target as well,” Manley told reporters in the White House driveway.

Manley said he spoke with Ridge about proposals to expedite traffic across the border by jump-starting a frequent-traveler program that was stalled after suicide hijackers attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

At a time of tightened budgets, it makes sense to shift resources away from checking regular travelers who are well known to border patrols as having legitimate cross-border business, Manley said.

“If we can take the frequent travelers ... out of that mix, then the resources that are left can be dedicated to those who are more likely to cause problems,” he said.