ANTI TALEBAN ENVOY SAYS AIM IS BROAD GOVERNMENT

Views on BG | October 8, 2001, Monday // 00:00

Text from the Bulgarian National Radio

[Announcer] We have [Northern Alliance] Afghan Ambassador Mohammed Fazil Saifi on the line. Do you hear me?
[Saifi] Yes.
[Announcer] I must tell our listeners that you are not the ambassador of the Taleban, but the representative of the Northern Alliance. Nikolay Krustev will help me with this interview.
[Krustev] Ambassador, can you comment on the statement that Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf made a few minutes ago, according to which Pakistan is rendering total support to the global coalition against the Taleban regime.? This is serious news.
[Saifi, speaking in Bulgarian] You know that Pakistan is involved in this issue. Pakistan is a founder of the Taleban movement in Afghanistan. Pakistan created Bin-Ladin. He came to Afghanistan at Pakistan`s invitation. In other words, Pakistan has a great interest in the whole thing. Now Pakistan stands to lose basic elements of its strategy and tactics. It must create a new strategy in Afghanistan, and now Bush is trying to get that country closer to us and get it involved in our cause. Our people are absolutely against the involvement of any other states in Afghanistan.
[Announcer] What is your comment regarding what happened yesterday, I mean the strikes.
[Saifi] Well, you know that for a long time - since 1993 - we have been fighting against the Taleban. Nothing new has happened for us. We have never stopped our struggle, we will continue to fight to the end. We were the first victims of the Taleban.
[Krustev] Ambassador, would the Northern Alliance cooperate with the global coalition in the struggle against terrorism and the Taleban, and contribute to removing the Taleban from its political basis in Kabul?
[Saifi] Well, you know that we were the first state that started the physical and armed struggle against the Taleban. We will continue our struggle. After the Taleban are annihilated, we will form a broad coalition government in Kabul. We will invite all prudent and intelligent people to join this broad coalition government...
[Krustev] How do you view the role of the king? According to some analysts he will be the factor that would unite Kabul`s political forces. However, many other commentaries claim that he also would hardly cope with the division among the Afghan politicians. What is your opinion?
[Saifi] This is not an internal, but rather an external problem. For example, if Pakistan and other countries stop interfering in our internal affairs we will have no differences among ourselves. We can cope with the situation if the foreign interference in Afghanistan ends...

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