Powell Rules Out Dominant Role for Pakistan in Postwar AfghanistanUS Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday ruled out a dominant role for Pakistan or any other nation in Afghanistan's postwar government."It won't work if any one country dictates what the future of the government will look like," Powell told the U.S. House International Relations Committee. Even the United States cannot run the South Asian country, he said. Pakistan, next door to the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, has played a role in the U.S. conflict with the Taliban and the al-Qaida terrorism network. "The next government of Afghanistan cannot be dictated into being by Pakistan," Powell said. Rather, with the United Nations taking the lead, all of Afghanistan's neighbors, and also such countries as China and Russia, must be consulted, he added. |
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