Posted on 11/23/2001 10:31:43 PM PST by LiberalBassTurds
Anti-Taliban Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani has said in a newspaper interview here on Saturday he had "no personal ambitions," seen by the Daily Telegraph as a clear willingness to relinquish his position.
"As far as my future is concerned, the people will determine the role of every concerned personality. I will accept the decision of the (Bonn) meeting. I have no personal ambitions," he told the paper.
Next Tuesday will see the start of multi-party talks near Bonn on the future of Afghanistan.
The Bonn conference aims to bring all Afghan ethnic groups together to begin paving the way for a broad-based administration.
Those represented will include the victorious Northern Alliance, former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, the Pashtun tribes in southern Afghanistan who make up most of the population, and some four million refugees, most of whom live in Iran and Pakistan.
"We want peace and security and a government of national unity in the country so that people do not face hardships and problems," Rabbani said.
"But this meeting is only the first step and no doubt it is very useful and auspicious, but we hope this will be the last gathering outside the country and the next meeting will be inside the country."
Earlier this week, Rabbani labelled the conference "insignificant" and said it would make only limited progress, in an interview published by Russia's Vremya Novosti daily.
A senior alliance leader quoted by the Telegraph said: "Rabbani has the clandestine blessings of Russia and maybe even Iran, that if everything falls apart at Bonn, then he will remain the de facto president.
"But if Bonn succeeds I am certain he will hand over the presidency, because he knows he cannot defy the will of the people, the UN and the whole international community," he added.
Rabbani has said he would like to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future to discuss the creation of a post-Taliban government.
He told the Telegraph he had urged UN envoy Francesc Vendrell, whom he met in Kabul earlier this week, that the UN should impose tough sanctions on any country which tried to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
"The UN must play a role and give us guarantees that all interference would be stopped so that we can form a broad-based government without outside influence," Rabbani said.
He also urged better relations between Afghanistan and its Pakistan neighbour.
"We want a new page to be turned. My message to (Pakistan) President Pervez Musharraf is that we should forget the bitter memories of the past and start a new friendship, based on mutual respect, non-interference and territorial independence."
Rabbani returned to Kabul a week ago promising a new and fair government five years after being ousted by the Taliban.
He remains the UN-recognised president of Afghanistan.
Rabbani headed a mujahedin government from 1992 to 1996, but his rule was marked by brutal infighting between many of the groups which now form the Northern Alliance.
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