Great Seal The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information.

NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Department Seal Karl F. Inderfurth
Assistant Secretary for South Asian Affairs
Statement before the Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs,
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Washington, DC, April 14, 1999

Flag bar

Afghanistan at a Crossroads

Afghanistan today is at a critical moment -- truly a fork in the road. On the one hand, with the return of warm weather we see prospects for another round of conflict between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance forces led by Commander Ahmad Shah Masood. On the other hand, there are some new, if modest prospects for movement toward the political settlement we all desire. Unfortunately, increased fighting now seems the most likely path.

We do not believe, however, that renewed fighting this spring will produce a military solution to the conflict. The Taliban is not likely to expel Masood from his stronghold in the Panjshir valley and we do not see the fractious Northern Alliance ousting the Taliban from the south. In the unlikely eventuality one faction wins a temporary military victory, we believe guerrilla warfare would continue and that the country would remain ungovernable. The failure of the Taliban to exercise effective control over large areas inhabited by non-Pashtun minorities occupied in 1998 is instructive.

I should add that despite the disparity in territory occupied -- the Taliban dominate 85% of Afghanistan while Masood and others in the Northern Alliance control about 15% -- in military terms, including troop strength, the factions are more nearly equivalent. Both sides are also well supplied with arms and ammunition. Though the Taliban has an advantage in aircraft, armor, and artillery, these arms have not historically dominated combat in Afghanistan, which typically occurs on the ground between battalion-size infantry units.

Should the fighting continue and intensify, the factions will almost certainly guarantee another round of the deadly cycle of ethnic war that has dominated Afghanistan for so many years, increasing the suffering of all of the Afghan people and destabilizing the region and beyond. However, several avenues to peace remain open, and we urge the fighting factions not to let this opportunity pass by and reverse the course toward renewed warfare.

Some Current Developments

In February and also in March, representatives of both the Taliban and Masood, the two key combatants, met in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. This was their first direct contact in almost a year since the April 1998 talks in Islamabad, arising from then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson's visit to the region, in which I took part. At the March 11-14 round in Ashgabat, both sides were represented at senior levels. Much credit goes to Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Shikhmuradov and to UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for facilitating these talks. We are working closely with Ambassador Brahimi and other countries in the region to persuade both sides to return to the table for a third round.

At this point, I regret to report that we have not been successful. In an April 10 radio announcement, it appears that the Taliban shut the door to further negotiations with their opponents. The Taliban said that a "shura" -- council -- led by Mullah Omar rejected the possibility of another round of talks. Taliban "shura" decisions are usually the final Taliban word on any given subject. Possibly as a response, Masood's forces fired three rockets at Kabul later that day. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed deep regret over this announcement and said the UN will resume consultations to explore possibilities for confidence-building measures which might help contain the level of fighting and draw the two sides back to peaceful discussion. It is our view that the Taliban should reconsider their decision. We too are disappointed because, over the past several weeks, some ground work has been laid to advance the prospect of a political settlement:

United States Interests

Mr. Chairman, the reason we are so engaged with Afghanistan is simple -- the spillover effect of the continued conflict touches upon key U.S. interests in several areas:

Terrorism

As Acting Coordinator Sheehan's trip made clear, we are addressing on an urgent basis the serious threat to U.S. interests, meaning the safety and well-being of Americans, posed by Afghanistan-based terrorists, particularly Usama Bin Laden and his network. Bin Laden and others have taken advantage of the Afghan conflict to use that country as a training ground, base, and safehaven. We have called on all factions to expel terrorists from their territory and to close their facilities. I and others in the U.S. Government are working hard to obtain the expulsion of Bin Laden from Afghanistan so that he can be brought to justice. If the Taliban do not expel Bin Laden and continue to harbor terrorists, the international community will soon come to see them in the same light and respond accordingly.

Narcotics

U.S. interests are also threatened because, today, Afghanistan is the world's second largest producer of opium and a major drug-processing center. Almost all areas of poppy cultivation are occupied by the Taliban, but all factions are involved with and benefit financially from the drug trade. Recent Taliban claims that processing facilities and opium stocks were destroyed have proven to be a sham. The Taliban and other factions have ignored the international community's calls to cooperate with the UN Drug Control Program. Afghan opium production in 1998 increased 7% over 1997 figures to an estimated 1350 metric tons. The area under poppy cultivation increased at a similar rate. In short, the narcotics threat posed by Afghanistan is growing.

Human Rights

As with terrorism and narcotics, our concerns about human rights abuses in Afghanistan are increasing. The UN Rapporteur on Human Rights, Dr. Kamal Hossain -- the former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh -- traveled to Afghanistan last month. He told the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva last week of "continuing violations of and denial of human rights." He described the Afghan people as reduced to "becoming hostages in their own land or refugees while externally armed forces seek to rule Afghanistan without the effective participation or consent of its people."

The State Department's just-issued annual report for 1998 documents human rights violations by all sides. We have recently received disturbing, but as yet unconfirmed, reports of mass arrests of hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan's central region by Taliban authorities in reprisal for attacks against Taliban forces. This region is populated largely by Hazaras, who are Shia Muslims. Many Hazara have continued to fight after the Taliban occupied the region last year. There are also claims that as many as 100 have been killed, houses burned, and that thousands are either attempting to flee the region or seeking refuge in the surrounding hills.

Treatment of Women and Girls

We are also paying very close attention to the Taliban's reprehensible policies toward women, raising this issue directly with the Taliban and senior Pakistani officials as well as speaking out publicly in international fora.

Most recently, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Harold Koh told the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva:

"The Taliban's blatant mistreatment of women represents one of the most severe abuses of human rights in the world. This includes public beatings for failure to wear a burqa and for not being accompanied by a close male relative. Women have drastically limited access to medical services and education, and only a tiny few are allowed to hold jobs, forcing many to beg on the streets simply to feed their children.:

As First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has noted, "We cannot allow these terrible crimes ... to continue with impunity ... We must do everything we can in our power to stop them."

Secretary of State Albright also went on the record at the Feminist Majority Foundation's March 29 event in Los Angeles:

"Afghan women have asked our help and we have responded by increasing our aid to feed, educate and train refugees; by pressing both factions to permit non-governmental organizations to operate freely and securely; by seeking a peaceful settlement to the war; and by making it clear to Taliban leaders that they will not gain the international respect they seek until they accord Afghan girls and women the rights they deserve."

Regional Stability

A final area of concern, again where U.S. interests are engaged, is regional stability. The Afghan conflict has alarmed the neighborhood and spilled into adjoining countries. I have mentioned terrorism and drugs. You can also add refugees, arms-trafficking, smuggling, and ethnic and sectarian conflict. The two countries most affected by these spillover effects are Pakistan and Iran. Indeed, as events last year proved, there is even the specter that the fighting in Afghanistan could erupt into a wider conflict. That danger existed between Pakistan and Iran and the Taliban following the killing of Iranian officials in Mazar-i-Sharif by Taliban forces last August. Fortunately, it receded thanks to efforts by the UN and others to defuse the crisis.

As the two key regional players, we believe Pakistan and Iran can play a special role in bringing peace to the region. Both have developed important relationships with Afghan factions; both have suffered from the ongoing fighting; both have expended scarce resources; and both have stated within the Six-plus-Two process that there is no military solution to the conflict and that a political settlement is needed. These words need to be backed by deeds. Their task is to bring their influence to bear on the Afghan parties to move toward a settlement. To this end, over the past year, we have urged Pakistan, repeatedly and at the highest level, to use its relationship with the Taliban to bring it to the negotiating table, and keep it there. We believe that Pakistan, which has provided the Taliban with diplomatic, material, and other support for several years, can do more that it has done in this regard, and we urge it to do so.

WHERE DO WE GO?

Our goal for Afghanistan remains a broad-based, multi-ethnic, representative government that accepts international norms of behavior on issues such as terrorism, narcotics, and human rights, including the rights of women and girls. We believe that only this kind of a government can bring to Afghanistan the peace it so sorely needs. Toward this end, our policy has been to support no individual Afghan faction but maintain contact with all to urge a peaceful settlement. We recognize none of the factions as a government and have no plans to do so.

I have referred previously to certain positive developments. In the best case scenario, the Taliban reverses their April 10 decision and the factions again meet in Ashgabat or elsewhere and agree to a cease-fire, prisoner exchange, and a basis for a future arrangement. This is followed by further meetings under UN auspices, perhaps at the proposed high-level Six-plus-Two meeting in Tashkent, where a settlement could be further advanced. That meeting could include the participation of Afghan moderates, neutrals, and the former king or his representative. This process could culminate in a "loya jirga" or grand national assembly, the traditional means of resolving disputes throughout Afghan history. Establishment of an interim authority could be followed by an international conference to discuss rehabilitation and reconstruction. Japan has indicated interest in hosting such a conference for Afghanistan as it did some years ago for Cambodia. Such a conference would demonstrate effectively the help that could flow from peace and could again provide an opportunity to bring together the Afghan factions before the international community to conclude a final settlement.

This, of course, is the most optimistic scenario. I regret to say, however, that the recent Taliban statement suggests that another round of conflict is the most likely eventuality. Based on their aggressive rhetoric, which is aggressive even for them, the Taliban seem to be readying their fighters for an all-out blitz on the battlefield. Masood is no doubt ready for that -- he's been fighting for almost 25 years now, first against the Daoud government, then the Soviets, then Hikmatyar, and now the Taliban.

Still, even if movement toward a settlement does not come to pass, we must stay engaged. The effects of the conflict will continue to affect our interests. I believe, however, we will need to reassess and review our policy to best determine how we can accomplish our goals. After all the suffering they have endured, the Afghan people deserve far better than continuing conflict, a shattered economy, and millions of people forced to live as refugees and deprived of their human rights.

U.S. Assistance to Afghanistan

U.S. assistance for Afghan refugees has been ongoing now for 19 years.

In the last fiscal year -- FY 98 -- the Bureau or Population, Refugees, and Migration provided some $8.3 million in earmarked contributions through international and non-governmental organizations. Of that amount, over $3.3 million was for projects that specifically targeted programs for Afghan women and girls, including $1.5 million for education and health in Pakistan. An additional $14.8 million was contributed to the general regional appeals for UNHCR and ICRC -- a significant proportion of the latter was for programs for Afghans in Afghanistan.

Also in FY 98:

For this current fiscal year, we anticipate that PRM funding will be at least at the level of last year, though we do not know at this point just what kind of assistance will be able to be implemented inside Afghanistan. Other assistance already decided for this year includes:

In addition, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has committed to contributing $200,000 in FY 99 Human Rights and Democracy Funds to the UN Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan. The funds would be targeted to women's democracy/human rights advocacy-building programs within the Appeal. The Bureau of South Asia has agreed to commit $200,000 from its FY 99 ESF regional democracy funds for the same type of programs in the Appeal specifically targeting Afghan women.

[end of document]

Flag bar
South Asian Affairs | South Asia Briefings, Remarks, Statements and Testimony | DOSFAN

This is an official U.S. Government source for information on the WWW.
Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links does not imply endorsement of contents.