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| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 16, 2001 |
Britain Sends First Diplomat to Kabul since 1989 |
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Britain said on Thursday that it is to send its first diplomat to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, since 1989, following the withdrawal of the Taliban regime.
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Britain said on Thursday that it is to send its first diplomat to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, since 1989, following the withdrawal of the Taliban regime.
Foreign Minister Jack Straw announced that Stephen Evans, 51, would be helping opposition forces to set up a broad-based government.
"Now is the moment to do it because, in our view, taking prompt action is an important way of helping to secure the advances that have already been made during the course of the week," Straw told reporters, referring to the withdrawal of Afghanistan's Taliban regime from Kabul.
"We have clearly considered very carefully the security situation and we are confident that at the moment we can deploy safely to the Kabul area," he said.
"There is not a political vacuum (in Kabul), but a relatively more benign political environment for the diplomatic activity to take place," he said.
Stephen Evans is currently head of the Foreign Office's southern Asia department who managed Britain's crisis group following the September 11 attacks on the United States which prompted the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
He said the British government had "considered very carefully the security situation and we are confident that at the moment we can deploy safely to the Kabul area."
Earlier on Thursday, Straw pronounced himself "relatively optimistic" over the prospect for peace in Afghanistan - provided events move swiftly.
The foreign secretary compared the current situation in the war- torn country with Germany after it was defeated in 1945.
He said rebuilding Afghanistan was "bound to take some time."
"That happened in Germany after the war - it is almost bound to happen here now," he said.
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