State Dept. Spokesman on U.S. Contacts with Taliban
Boucher says two sides discussed Usama bin Laden
The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan William Milam met with a Taliban
official and discussed "the continuing international demand" that the
Taliban expel accused terrorist Usama bin Laden to "a place where he
can be brought to justice," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher
told reporters in Washington November 3.
Boucher said Milam's meeting with the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan
Abdul Salim Zayif occurred in Pakistan November 2 at the request of
Zayif.
Boucher said the United States is working, along with the UN and other
countries, to help the Afghans establish a broad-based government that
would achieve international recognition.
Following is the excerpt from the press briefing:
(begin transcript)
Q: Could you talk about the Pakistani - US Ambassador to Pakistan's
meeting with the Taliban representative in Pakistan yesterday, and
what was discussed about reports that the US was going to strike
Afghanistan over bin Laden's presence in the country?
MR. BOUCHER: All right. The meeting was not in that particular
context. Let me describe the context of the meeting and the reasons
for the meeting.
This was November 2nd in Pakistan. Our Ambassador to Pakistan, Bill
Milam, met with Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salim Zayif, at
the request of Ambassador Zayif. The two sides discussed developments
in Afghanistan and the region, and the continuing international demand
that Usama bin Laden be expelled from Afghanistan to a place where he
can be brought to justice.
US officials, as you know, hold regular meetings with representatives
of the Taliban and other Afghan factions and groups. We don't favor
any particular Afghan faction. We are working, along with the UN and
other countries, to help the Afghans establish a broad-based
government that would achieve international recognition. And, in fact,
today there are also some "6+2" meetings going on in New York that
Ambassador Pickering is attending. You will remember the Secretary,
when she was there in September, participated in a "6+2" meeting at
the ministerial level. There are further meetings going on
demonstrating the concern and the interest of the international
community in seeing the situation there resolved.
On the subject that you ask about, during the course of the meeting,
Ambassador Milam made clear to the Taliban representative the US
position, as we have stated it in public: that the investigation
continues into the attack on the Cole; the perpetrators at this point
have not been identified, but the United States will do what it has to
do in order to protect American lives and our national interests
around the world.
Q: Is this the first meeting with the Taliban representative since
that "6+2" meeting in New York in September?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm pretty sure it is not, but I don't have the whole
list.
Q: Has the Taliban - Secretary Albright and some of the other
Ambassadors made some kind of harsh remarks about the Taliban at the
time. Was that brought up, and was it --
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know if that came up. I mean, it's not - the
harsh remarks that we have made about the Taliban are not limited to
that particular moment in time. I think we have been fairly
consistently harsh on the Taliban and many of the things they are
doing, including the issues of human rights and their treatment of
women and girls.
Q: Which is exactly why I'm not sure why - how you can say that you
don't favor any one faction in Afghanistan over another. You certainly
haven't been that critical of what used to be the Northern Alliance or
anything like that. Why are the Taliban - are you trying to be an
honest broker in Afghanistan?
MR. BOUCHER: No, we're not. I think the point is that we are not
trying to choose a particular faction as the government of
Afghanistan. The point is that we have discussed issues and concerns
with the Taliban. Because we have issues and concern about the
Taliban, we are not in some way selecting them as the government of
Afghanistan.
Q: Did Ambassador Zayif bring up Taliban fears that there might be a
US attack on Afghanistan, as there was in 1998? And what did
Ambassador Milam tell him?
MR. BOUCHER: The question of did he bring up fears, the answer is I
don't know. And that is something I guess you would have to check with
them. What Ambassador Milam said on the subject of attacks was exactly
what I just read you. It is consistent - it is exactly the same as
the public position that we have expressed to you before.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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