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Saudis, Pakistanis said to be directing U.S. Afghan policy

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, April 16, 1999

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration has allowed Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to direct U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, the result of which has bolstered the rule of Taliban over that Asian country, a congressional hearing was told.

"The U.S. has a very close relationship with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on matters concerning Afghanistan," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California. "But unfortunately, instead of providing leadership, we are letting them lead our policy."

Rohrabacher said the United States has refused to promote democracy in Afghanistan and instead has followed the wishes of Muslim regimes. "We have repeatedly let the Muslim world off the hook when it comes to human rights and democracy," he said. "There is no doubt that the decisions that we have made in Afghanistan are now undercutting the chances of democratic government and stability in Pakistan."

Rohrabacher, a former White House aide, told the Senate Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs subcommittee on Wednesday that the administration has blocked Congress from investigating U.S. ties to the Taliban. He said he witnessed U.S. officials in charge of helping Afghan resistance fighters permit a large percentage of aid to be channeled to Taliban, which he termed the "most anti-Western, anti-female, anti-human rights regime in the world." He attributed this to a U.S. effort to placate Pakistan's ISI military intelligence.

The congressman said the administration has refused to crack down on the Taliban's lucrative opium trade. U.S. protection of Taliban, he said, comes despite that group's close relationship with Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi national believed to have directed the bombing of two U.S. embassies in east Africa last year.

"I am making the claim that there is, and has been, a covert policy by this administration to support the Taliban movement's control of Afghanistan," Rohrabacher said. "It is my guess that this amoral or immoral policy is based on the assumption that the Taliban would bring stability to Afghanistan and permit the building of oil pipelines from Central Asia, through Afghanistan, to Pakistan."

In New York, a letter by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan accused Pakistan of resupplying Taliban with weapons and said fighting in Afghanistan will resume after the winter lull. Last week, Taliban decided not to attend another round of U.N.-mediated negotiations.

The House representative said that over the last two years the State Department undermined her efforts to help send two planeloads of humanitarian aid to millions of starving Afghans in the center of the country. Last spring, he said, administration officials convinced anti-Taliban forces to accept a ceasefire rather than go on the offensive. Again, he said, this was done to placate Pakistan.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth told the subcommittee that Rohrabacher's accusations were untrue. "Nothing could be further from the truth," Inderfurth said, "no arms, no training, nor any other form of assistance, nor any quiet encouragement. Indeed, the only thing the Taliban has received from us to date is condemnation for many of their repugnant practices, and warnings that they are at risk as long as they provide shelter for Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist activities in Afghanistan."

Friday, April 16, 1999


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