America dumps Pakistan
over Kabul

CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
WASHINGTON: The US has ditched Pakistan at the
first opportunity, permitting the Northern Alliance to take over Kabul despite
a public commitment to Islamabad not allow it.
Alliance leaders in New York are saying their forces entered Kabul "at US
behest," though President Bush had initially advised them to keep the
Afghan capital "an open city." Bush, too, has declared that he is
"pleased" with the developments in Afghanistan, although
administration officials have warned the Alliance against reprisals and human
rights violations.
During their meeting in New York over the weekend, the US President had
promised Pakistan's military leader Pervez Musharraf that he would not allow
the Northern Alliance to enter Kabul.
"We had indications from America to enter Kabul," the Afghanistan's
recognised ambassador to the UN, Dr Ravan Farhadi, who is backed by the
Alliance, was quoted as telling reporters in New York, "They (America)
told us to do that," he said.
US officials in Washington said that the administration had merely advised the
Alliance not to enter Kabul and obviously had no control over the ground
situation.
Pakistan is now trying to retrieve the situation diplomatically by pressing
for the urgent induction of multinational forces. It has also
"offered" its own troops for this force. But the move has been
rejected straightaway by the Northern Alliance, which will brook not brook any
interference from Islamabad in Afghanistan's affairs after Pakistan backed the
Taliban against it.
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