Bush administration refocuses policy to encourage groups opposed to Taliban rulers in Afghanistan

By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON – Stymied in its drive to collar Osama bin Laden, the Bush administration is undertaking a concerted new effort to strengthen forces opposed to Taliban rulers in Afghanistan.

The administration is seizing on dissension within the ranks of the Islamic fundamentalist militia and encouraging the rebel northern alliance as well as tribal groups in the south who are at odds with the Taliban.

In a policy statement Monday, the White House restated the stand it has taken during the three-week crisis: "We do not want to choose who rules Afghanistan."

But, with the next breath, the White House said, "We will assist those who seek a peaceful, economically developing Afghanistan free of terrorism."

Already in touch in Rome with Mohammed Zahir Shah, who was dethroned in Kabul in 1973 and is now 86 years old, the White House said the U.S. goal was "a government that represents all Afghans."

On Monday, the anti-Taliban alliance and the former king agreed to convene an emergency council of tribal and military leaders as a first step toward forming a new system of government in their country.

A congressional group, headed by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., met with the king on Sunday. "We think that perhaps he is the person that can rally those against the Taliban most effectively," Weldon said after the 11-member congressional delegation talked to the king at his home.

Over the weekend, President Bush dipped into an emergency fund and authorized an additional $25 million in relief aid to Afghan refugees. This brought U.S. assistance to more than $205 million, including $32.8 million in assistance over the last few weeks.

"The United States has been the No. 1 donor of aid to the people of Afghanistan. The United States will continue in those endeavors," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.

On U.S. policy and its new emphasis on undercutting the Taliban, who refuse to turn over bin Laden or uproot the terrorism network he manages from inside Afghanistan, Fleischer said, "The United States is going to be in contact through a variety of means with various people who have an interest and concern for the stability of the region."

And, while again disavowing any intention to choose Afghanistan's rulers, the spokesman said, "We work with a variety of people, all of whom have an interest in establishing an Afghanistan that is peaceful and does not practice terrorism."

Pressed on how the United States would work to achieve that goal, Fleischer said, "Through a variety of ways, which can involve political, diplomatic, military, financial, all of the above."

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, "There are any number of people in Afghanistan, tribes in the south, the northern alliance in the north, that oppose Taliban. And clearly we need to recognize the value they bring to this anti-terrorist, anti-Taliban effort – and where appropriate, find ways to assist them."

In neighboring Tajikistan, a spokesman for the northern alliance said Sunday that hundreds of Taliban soldiers had defected during three days of fierce fighting in the country's northern mountains and that the northern alliance now controls 20 percent of the territory of Afghanistan.

Nearly three weeks after terrorist strikes on Washington and New York, the Bush administration still had not retaliated with military force. It continued harsh rhetoric, the White House policy statement saying: "The Taliban has repressed the citizens of Afghanistan. The Taliban will hand over the terrorists or they will share their fate."

APNP-10-01-01 1311CDT