| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 14, 2001 |
Blair Urges UN Presence in Post-Taliban Afghan Government |
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged on Tuesday a United Nations presence in Kabul to fill the power vacuum left by the Taliban.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged on Tuesday a United Nations presence in Kabul to fill the power vacuum left by the Taliban.
In a telephone call to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Blair said there was the need to press ahead with efforts to forge a new broad-based government in Afghanistan after the lightning military advances by the opposition Northern Alliance.
"I believe that we can...make real progress towards the filling of the current power vacuum in Kabul, but we need a U.N. presence there as soon as possible," he told reporters at his Downing Street offices after speaking to Annan by phone.
"And we need obviously to make sure that we are making as quick progress as we can on assembling all the different elements that need to go into that broad-based successor regime," he said.
But the prime minister gave no details on how he thinks the U.N. should present in Afghanistan after the Northern Alliance forces entered Kabul.
Earlier, a Downing Street spokesman said Britain expected to see representatives of a new political leadership emerging from U.N. negotiations to be held in Kabul "in the not too distant future."
Blair said plans for a successor government were well advanced, but he denied that political strategy had been overtaken by the Taliban collapse in the north of the country. The Northern Alliance captured Kabul while the United States and Britain repeatedly appealed them to hold back and keep away from the capital before an interim government was formed.
Blair said Northern Alliance leaders were aware that their successes were based on international support on the ground and weeks of U.S. bombings.
"The basis on which that support was given remains very clear, and that remains the case," he said.
Also on Tuesday, the British Foreign Office issued a statement, saying that the United Nations and the international community should "address the situation" in Kabul with the idea of forming a broad-based government in Afghanistan.
"The U.N. and the rest of the international community need to address the situation as we find it in Kabul, with the aim of remaining a broad-based interim government which reflects the diversity of the country and to which all within Afghanistan have access," the statement said.
"At the same time as playing a role in reconstructing the country we also recognize the urgent need to get in badly-needed humanitarian aid," it said.
Home Secretary David Blunkett on Tuesday also called for a quick creation of a democratic government and restoration of food aid to Afghanistan.
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