World applauds new Afghan government

12/22/2001

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press Writer

LONDON — An anxious world welcomed the inauguration of Afghanistan's interim government Saturday, urging war-weary Afghans to unite behind their new leaders as the best hope for peace. Some nations also pledged economic aid and renewed diplomatic ties.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder congratulated Hamid Karzai, the 44-year-old Pashtun tribal leader who was sworn in as prime minister of the interim government. Schroeder also pledged German support for rebuilding the country.

Schroeder said he was confident Karzai would implement a power-sharing accord signed by Afghan factions at the Petersberg hotel near Bonn, Germany, on Dec. 5.

``After all those bitter years of armed conflict, the Petersberg accord finally gives your country concrete prospects of peace and development,'' Schroeder said in a message to Karzai.

Britain, which reopened its embassy in Kabul on Saturday after 12 years, vowed it would not desert Afghanistan once the war against the ousted Taliban regime and the al-Qaida terrorist network was over.

On Friday, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain would support the country's new leaders ``for the long term.''

``But it is their country, it is their future and our role is to help the people in Afghanistan to build a fairer and better future there,'' Blair said at a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia's foreign ministry said it regarded Karzai's inauguration as ``the starting point in creating a peaceful Afghanistan free from terrorism and drugs.''

Several countries, including the United States, have already reopened embassies in Kabul, which were closed during years of war and Taliban rule. Others have promised to reopen their missions soon.

On Saturday, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh hoisted the Indian flag atop the country's Kabul embassy, shuttered since the Taliban came to power in 1996.

Italy said it would reopen its Kabul mission in the next few days, with the first Italian peacekeepers arriving in the country soon after. Italy has pledged up to 600 troops for a U.N.-mandated peacekeeping force for Afghanistan.

Turkey, the first Muslim country to offer peacekeepers to Afghanistan, urged all Afghan groups to back the interim government.

``We believe that all groups in Afghanistan will support the interim government and use this opportunity, which is expected to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan in the best way,'' Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan has earmarked $100 million, for reconstruction projects and humanitarian assistance and has removed restrictions on export of goods that may be needed to rebuild neighboring Afghanistan, it said.

President Gen. Musharraf, who has supported the U.S. military campaign, also said Pakistan would reopen its embassy and consulates in Afghanistan as soon as possible.

The inauguration made the front pages of Saturday newspapers in Japan, which has pledged to host an international conference in Tokyo next month to raise money for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

``All factions have embarked together on a voyage toward rebuilding their impoverished country,'' said an editorial in the Yomiuri newspaper, Japan's most-read daily.

But the editorial also warned that the ``indifference of the international community'' was partly to blame for the instability, poverty and other conditions that turned Afghanistan into a hotbed for terrorists, and urged world leaders not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

After being sworn in as prime minister, Karzai inducted the 29 members of his cabinet — including two women.

But his coalition government faces a staggering challenge: overcoming ethnic divisions and mutual suspicions to reconstruct a nation unprepared for a long, hungry winter, its infrastructure devastated and its coffers emptied by the fleeing Taliban.