Military

DATE=11/29/01

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=GERMANY'S AFGHAN CONFERENCE

NUMBER=6-125486

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: Editorial writers and columnists around the world have turned their attention to the Afghan leaders conference underway near Bonn, Germany. We get a sample of how the meeting was assessed now from V-O-A's ____________ in this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Delegates from the conquering Northern Alliance, together with several different groups of the nation's dominant ethnic group, the Pashtuns, gathered in a quaint little town, Koneigswinter, near Bonn. Also present were representatives of the exiled King Zahir Shah, and another group of Pashtos from an exiled group on Cyprus. Some other ethnic minority representatives are also present.

Their task, under the watchful eye of the United Nations, and other outside observers, was to plot the short and possibly, the mid-term future of their country. The reaction around the globe was mixed as newspapers wondered whether leaders of such diverse and often feuding tribes, could unite after a quarter century of continuing warfare for the good of all.

We begin our survey in Europe, and to Ireland, where in Dublin, the Irish Times suggests:

VOICE: The U-N talks on Afghanistan received a serious setback yesterday [11-28] when the Northern Alliance rejected calls for an international security force...but there were hopes that the outlines of a mechanism to share power with Afghan monarchists had been agreed. ... We should not expect everything to be resolved in four to five days,' said Mr. Francesc Vendrell, the U-N deputy special representative to Afghanistan.

TEXT: Turning to France, the famed Le Monde in Paris comments in Wednesday's [11-28] editorial:

VOICE: The Afghans will need much political talent, a great capacity to forgive and forget as well as boundless amounts of diplomacy in order to begin rebuilding their country... The mission in Bonn is an arduous one. Four major Afghan factions are face to face. Those aspiring to succeed the Taleban ...form a heterogeneous assembly of ethnic representatives and warlords...

TEXT: Implicitly suggesting the importance of these preliminary talks, and any that may follow, another Paris daily, Liberation suggests:

VOICE: The U-S intervention and the fall of the Taleban regime represent an opportunity to put the pieces of Afghanistan back together again. If this opportunity is not grasped, it may never again present itself.

TEXT: In the host country, and to the Southern metropolis of Munich, there is some guarded optimism as Sueddeutsche Zeitung comments:

VOICE: [The Bonn agreement] is by no means a breakthrough. The delegations only placed themselves on the starting line, and the race for the best positions will begin only now. And in ... this race, a fierce jockeying for positions will take place, since the decisive things will be discussed now: the right balance and the positions which the various ethnic groups will get in an interim government... [Even] a good climate such as in Bonn does not guarantee a solution...

TEXT: In Italy, there is a more pessimistic view from Rome's La Republica, which suggests:

VOICE: It is ever more evident that 'liberated' Afghanistan is risking falling into an abyss... The conference in Bonn is our last occasion to let the Afghan delegates - - and first of all those who are more arrogant, the Northern Alliance - - understand that the future of their country doesn't advance through arms, but through politics.

TEXT: Moving quickly to the sub-continent, and Afghanistan's major neighbor, Pakistan, we read in the national daily, Dawn:

VOICE: While one should not be unduly optimistic about the outcome of the conference, certain hopeful developments can be noted. One is the delegates' resolve to wrap up the talks in three to five days. No one has given them this timeframe, and a U-N spokesman said the four delegations themselves decided to finish the talks early...

TEXT: In the capital, Islamabad, the English language Pakistan Observer says in part:

VOICE: [This is] a positive beginning to reunite the fragmented Afghan nation, which has unfortunately endured a prolonged era of death and destruction over the past decades. ... The Afghan leaders at the U-N sponsored conference appear to be responsive to their patriotic obligations at this grim moment of ... history...

TEXT: And in Peshawar, quite near the Afghan border, The Frontier Post is pleased that a role for the aging, former king appears to be emerging.

VOICE: There is an emerging consensus in Bonn that the role of the ex-king Zahir Shah should be that of figurehead. That would assist the transitional government to win over all the ethnic and other groups that comprise the mosaic of nationalities and religious denominations that characterizes Afghanistan.

TEXT: Over Pakistan's other border, in India, we find newspaper readers in Madras, thinking about these words from the Hindu.

VOICE: Observers say differences between the four Afghan delegations ... have begun to surface... Diplomatic sources close to the talks also described the issue of a foreign military presence as a major sticking point, and on Tuesday, Iran - - a key player in the Afghan civil war- - also voiced its fierce opposition to a foreign security force in Afghanistan.

TEXT: In the Far East, China's Beijing-based English-language official newspaper China Daily comments:

VOICE: It is hoped ... the Bonn talks will end with a widely agreed leadership deal that embodies a real broad-based government representing all Afghan ethnic groups... Such a deal can only be reached if all sides show a sincere wish to set aside disputes and sacrifice group interests for the benefit of all.

TEXT: Moving quickly to this hemisphere, we check north of our border for this assessment from Canada's Toronto Star, which is upset at the brutality of the conflict, even as the German conference talks of peace.

VOICE: At peace talks in Germany, Northern Alliance leaders take pride in having driven the Taleban from power, as they claim a leading role in Afghanistan's future government. But back home, their troops are committing atrocities. ... Rather than wink at Northern Alliance crimes, as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld seemed to do [Wednesday 11-28] Washington should join the United Nations in warning that alliance leaders undermine their claim to leadership by tolerating anarchy and murder.

TEXT: South of the border, in Argentina, the famed Clarin from Buenos Aires expresses some doubts in Thursday's [11-29] editorial:

VOICE: Af first, the U-N Bonn conference aroused hope that a post-war government could be negotiated. But rivalries among the participating groups indicate that no immediate resolution can be expected in this first approach.

TEXT: On that pessimistic view from Argentina's leading daily Clarin, we conclude this editorial sampling from the four corners of the globe about the U-N sponsored Afghan leadership conference.

NEB/ANG/RH