The council is about to enter a new phase after days of committee work, some of which bogged down in personal conflict between strong-willed delegates. On December 22, a conference official announced that the council, originally scheduled to end after ten days, would open proceedings to the public on December 23. The United Nations has promised to pay the $50,000 daily expense of the tented proceedings through December 24, but that seems an unlikely end date. Even if a strong president emerges in the constitution, the country will remain volatile and complex for years. While delegates' committees finished reviewing constitutional articles, American-led soldiers were fanning out to provinces in a renewed effort to bolster reconstruction. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives.] Khalilzad, an established representative of American president George W. Bush, spoke with EurasiaNet correspondent Camelia Entekhabi-Fard about progress and concern in the city beyond the Loya Jirga tent.
EurasiaNet: People have complained that since the emergency Loya Jirga in June 2002, the security situation has not improved and has perhaps gotten worse. According to official reports, the Taliban militia that ran Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 has increased its presence in the south and west. Why?
Khalilzad: You ask why Taliban activity has increased. I believe perhaps in the past we didn't know the situation clearly. We always negotiated with Pakistan to increase cooperation
against al Qaeda. We thought that cooperation and help were enough. But Pakistan also has to cooperate by not allowing extremist members of the Taliban or [fundamentalist warlord] Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's supporters to use Pakistani land as their planning base.
The other problem is that residents of the borderlands don't have a government, schools, roads, clinics the basic necessities as well as jobs. We need to improve the conditions for these people. Currently, a 1,000 kilometer road is under construction to connect the region to the central government. Also, Pakistan's government needs to make greater efforts to control its borders. Finally, India should not do anything in [the southern capital of] Kandahar to make it another Kashmir.
EurasiaNet: Has India had any specific reported activity in Kandahar?
Khalilzad: No, what I'm saying is that everything should be in the open between the two countries.
EurasiaNet: Former resident Burhanuddin Rabbani told us that new and reorganized Taliban activities in the south and west do not necessarily imply that Taliban activists have crossed the borders. He said that some Taliban are local Afghans who are frustrated and unhappy with the government and joining the Taliban as their outlet. Is that correct?
Khalilzad: Yes, he is right that not all activities are organized from across the Pakistan border,
nor are all Taliban members crossing the border. But as I pointed out, one of the biggest problems is Pakistan and we need to work on it.
EurasiaNet: People are also confused about why aid from donor countries for reconstruction projects has not arrived in full. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives.] Do you think that once the constitution is ratified, donor countries will send their donations as they promised?
Khalilzad: I'm on the people's side. I believe that the aid [received to date] is not as much as the countries had promised. I think the people of Afghanistan have a right to complain about it. My personal opinion is that if the people help the process of the Loya Jirga, and if they want more aid, it's possible for us to convince the United States to raise the aid. We are a new team with a new plan to improve the economic and security conditions at a faster rate.
EurasiaNet: There have been rumors that you influenced the final decision of the emergency Loya Jirga, effectively vetoing former king Mohammed Zahir Shah's intention to nominate himself for the presidency. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives.] Now people are wondering what plan you made for this Loya Jirga.
Khalilzad: I deny the rumor that I influenced the veto. It's gossip. The real story is that two days before the emergency Loya Jirga, we learned that the former king didn't want to nominate himself for president and that he accepted the title "father of the nation." The day before the Jirga opened, Abdul Wali [the king's son-in-law] revealed in an interview by the BBC that the former king had nominated himself for the presidency. And the question was whether the king was a candidate for the presidency or the father of the nation. I was asked to confirm with Zahir because he and I had been close friends for several years. I was with him five minutes, and he told me that he was not a candidate for any position and that if the people wanted to give him the title "father of the nation" he would consider it an honor. That was the whole story. Don't listen to gossip!
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard is a freelance journalist specializing in Afghan and Iranian issues. She is reporting from the constitutional Loya Jirga for EurasiaNet.
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