28 September 2001
Excerpt: Lawyer for Detained Aid Workers in Afghanistan Goes to Kabul
(State's Boucher says detainees separate issue from other concerns)
(1210)
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the status of the
detained foreign aid workers in Afghanistan is "a completely separate
matter" and the detainees need to be released right away, State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington September 28.
Boucher said that the detainees' Pakistani lawyer has gone to Kabul
and plans to meet Taliban officials September 29. The parents of the
detained American aid workers are in Islamabad, and the U.S. embassy
there is in close touch with them, the spokesman added. He said U.S.
diplomats are in frequent contact with the Taliban representatives in
Islamabad to express its concern about the welfare of the detainees.
Boucher repeated the U.S. demand that the Taliban expell Usama bin
Laden to a country where he can be brought to justice.
"[T]he Taliban need to do what the president told them to do, asked
them to do, last Thursday night in his speech. And if they don't do
that, they're going to suffer the same fate," Boucher said.
The spokesman said the United States is preparing another contribution
of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people through the United
Nations. He said the announcement of the new aid would probably come
next week.
Following are excerpts from Boucher's September 28 media briefing
containing his comments about the Afghanistan:
(begin excerpt)
Q: It concerns Afghanistan.
MR. BOUCHER: Please.
Q: Will the detainees be a factor in this government's planning for
any other measures that may be in store for Afghanistan?
MR. BOUCHER: We consider the status of the detainees to be a
completely separate matter from what's going on, and we believe that
they need to be released right away, which is what the president said
last week.
Q: So they will not be a factor?
MR. BOUCHER: I just stated what I -- our position on them.
(American detained in Afghanistan)
Q: How about the detainees in Afghanistan?
MR. BOUCHER: The people in Afghanistan. There's not a whole lot of
news there, but let me tell you what there is.
The Pakistani lawyer who was selected by the detainees has entered
Afghanistan. He's on his route to Kabul. We understand he has a
meeting with Taliban officials Saturday morning, tomorrow morning, at
10:00. The lawyer has told the consuls for the Americans, for the
Germans and the Australians who are in detention that he hoped to see
them on Saturday. He's planning on taking a package of food and
medicine and letters and personal items for the detainees. That
package has been put together by their parents.
He will also keep family members and the U.S. embassy in Islamabad
informed of the progress of the case. The parents are
-- of the American detainees are currently in Islamabad, and we -- our
embassy there remains in very close touch with them.
This is a Friday, a holiday for the Taliban, so U.S. embassy officials
had no contacts with the Taliban representatives today about the
welfare and the status of the Americans. But we've been in frequent
contact with their officials in Islamabad to express our concern about
these people and our concern about their welfare.
....
Q: Well, yeah. I do. Is it still your understanding that the trial is
going to resume tomorrow, or is this what --
MR. BOUCHER: We don't know for sure. The lawyer has told us that if
the trial resumes, then he'll stay in Kabul. If not, if there are
further delays, he'll go back to Pakistan. So at this point we really
don't know for sure if it's going to resume right away or not.
Q: And well, is he going -- is the lawyer going for something special?
I mean, is there some kind --
MR. BOUCHER: He's going to see the detainees.
Q: So there isn't --
MR. BOUCHER: He's going to see his clients, you might say, and I guess
he's there at this moment. If the trial starts, he'll be there for the
trial.
Q: So you're not aware that he's going for any specific proceeding?
MR. BOUCHER: We don't know of any particular proceeding. He wasn't
able to pin that down before he left.
Okay.
Q: Was he told explicitly that he would be able to see the detainees?
MR. BOUCHER: No. He was told that he would have a meeting with the
Taliban, Saturday at 10:00 a.m. That's what he knows at this point --
what we know from him at this point.
Mark?
Q: Richard, do you consider the detainees to be human shields?
MR. BOUCHER: We consider them to be Americans who are detained, and
we're concerned about their welfare.
(Taliban and bin Landen)
Q: Same subject. Has the U.S. government received a fresh rejection,
as is being reported on one cable network, from the Taliban so far as
releasing Osama bin Laden? I mean, it's a standing request, of course,
but there was a report a while ago that they said no again.
MR. BOUCHER: There haven't been any particular contacts with the
United States. We haven't had any direct discussions with them.
I don't know if it's in relation to the Pakistani -- there was a group
of Pakistani clerics and government people, I think, who were going.
We're aware of that trip. Nobody's carrying any message on our behalf.
But clearly we would expect them to express the view to the Taliban --
the view that's shared by the United States and Pakistan -- that the
Taliban need to do what the president told them to do, asked them to
do, last Thursday night in his speech. And if they don't do that,
they're going to suffer the same fate.
Q: Richard, has the time for diplomacy, as far as the U.S. is
concerned, with the Taliban -- has the time for diplomacy run out?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to try to make statements like that. I'm
not offering any sense of timing of other measures.
....
Q: Richard, do you know anything about any conclusions from the
meeting yesterday in Berlin? I think when you spoke yesterday, it was
still going on.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah. I don't think we expected to have any particular
conclusions. There was, as you know, an appeal from the United Nations
to help the refugees and the people of Afghanistan. We have been
working on that for a great -- long period of time. We attended the
meeting. I think we, and many others, expressed our intention to work
with the United Nations and to bring these preparations we've made
into fruition so that we can adequately take care of the people. There
was no new pledge announced there, but we would expect to be able to
describe an initial contribution probably next week when we talk again
in Geneva.
Q: Did you discuss a possible reconstruction of the country after the
Taliban perhaps would leave?
MR. BOUCHER: We talked about the humanitarian situation with regard to
refugees. That was the subject of the conference.
Q: But reconstruction did not come up?
MR. BOUCHER: I have no idea if, you know, words like that came up or
not. But the subject of the conference was to talk about humanitarian
assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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