Alliance offers olive branch to Pashtun

War on Terrorism: Northern Alliance

Abdullah Abdullah, the Northern Alliance's foreign affairs spokesman, issued a sharp warning on Thursday against the inclusion of ex-Taliban figures in a new Afghan government.

But, after talks in Iran with Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, he also reiterated support for a "broad-based" multiethnic government and insisted that the Alliance had no "preconditions" about being in permanent charge of the country.

This was welcomed by the British as a sign that the Alliance is serious about sharing power with the Pashtun, the biggest ethnic group and virtually unrepresented in the Alliance, which is made up of ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras.

Mr Straw began a mission to Iran and Pakistan yesterday, ahead of next week's UN-brokered negotiations in Bonn on the future of Afghanistan. About 30 Afghan leaders are expected, representing at least four main political and tribal groupings, but the list of participants has not been finalised. The Taliban have not been invited but Pakistan is insisting that a future government must incorporate former Taliban moderates if it is to enjoy broad support.

Mr Straw's mission in the region, which includes Robert Cooper, the senior Cabinet Office official acting as Tony Blair's emissary on the future of Afghanistan, believes that Hamid Karzai, a leading anti-Taliban Pashtun, will attend the Bonn meeting, though officials are being careful not to back any individuals as possible future administration members.

The same hands-off stance sources insist, applies to any future role for the former king, Zahir Shah.

In separate talks with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, Mr Straw was assured of Tehran's support for a "broad-based" government including the Pashtun, but warned about the long-term presence of foreign troops on Afghan soil.

Dr Kharrazi said an American and British military presence was a "very sensitive issue" for Afghans "who would prefer not to have foreign troops on their soil".

Significantly, however, Dr Kharrazi, who when Mr Straw met him here in September warned against any action not sanctioned by the UN, did not use the meeting to attack US and British military action in Afghanistan. Iran has long wanted the removal of the Taliban, which it sees as the prime cause of its drug and refugee problem. It has now sent its first official legation to Kabul since 11 of its diplomats were murdered at the Consulate in Mazar e Sharif in August 1998.

Dr Kharrazi did not rule out the possibility that some "experts and administrators" who had been pressured into working for the Taliban might be admitted to a new administration. "I do not call them moderate Taliban," he said, referring to the people he had in mind as Afghans who did not share the "mentality" of the Taliban.

The Iranian foreign minister was forthright in expressing Iranian concern about possible escalation of the war to Iraq. Senior British sources said Dr Kharrazi had been appreciative of the British stance that such an escalation would be unacceptable without unambiguous evidence that Iraq had been involved in the atrocities of 11 September.

Regarding troops, the Northern Alliance's Dr Abdullah was also cool in response to questions about further deployment, saying there had been no fresh request from the Western allies and adding: "If we are consulted about it we will consider it."

Senior British sources now regard it as an error not to have consulted the Alliance more fully before sending troops to reconnaissance and secure Bagram airport. But they now appear to believe that agreement to any further military deployment must be discussed by a larger group than the Northern Alliance. This is likely to explain Mr Straw's insistence yesterday in a BBC interview that "decisions will have to wait for next week's talks in Bonn. Exactly what they need in terms of longer term peace-keeping and stabilisation from outside remains to be seen.

"We won't be able to get a fix on that until the conclusion of the first stage of the [UN special representative on Afghanistan Lakhdar] Brahimi meeting."

Peacekeeping was given a new dimension last night when Mr Brahimi's deputy, Fransesc Vendrell, met Mr Straw in Islamabad, where Mr Vendrell has been consulting Pakistani leaders worried about the prospect of a Northern Alliance takeover. Mr Vendrell said there ought to be an international security force under a UN mandate. "If Pakistan had to choose between Afghan groups and an impartial force they might prefer the latter."