Still Searching for Security in a Fragile Afghanistan

In the same week that American defense officials approved plans to protect Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the first high-level delegation from Karzai's government left for the United States. Six ministers from Karzai's cabinet will participate in a conference on reconstruction at Georgetown University in Washington until July 25. They include Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, a veteran of the old Northern Alliance who fought the Taliban before the American-led assault undid that militia in late 2001. Abdullah, a Panjshiri Tajik like other former Northern Alliance ministers, has become an international spokesman for the Karzai government- and a focus for those who complain that the government unfairly reflects his own ethnic group. EurasiaNet spoke with Abdullah in Dubai, where he stopped en route to the United States. The text of their comments follows:

EurasiaNet: It seems that after the July 6 assassination of Vice President Haji Qadir, the issue of security has taken center stage again. This is what United Nations Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi has suggested in his July 19 speech to the UN Security Council. Will you be talking about that issue in your upcoming visit to Washington?
Abdullah: What Mr. Brahimi was saying was not new at all. The UN has been calling for some time now for an enlarged and more effective international presence to maintain security in Afghanistan. So I don't see his statement as an indication of worsening situation or anything like that. As far as our talks in Washington go, we would press our friends to expand the size and the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archives.]

EurasiaNet: What about the issue of [US-led] air strikes and civilian casualties?
Abdullah: That would be discussed as well.

EurasiaNet: Will you be asking for a continuation of the air strikes or a halt to them after the death of the civilians in the wedding party? [On July 1, some 50 civilians died and 100 were injured by cannon fire from a US AC-130 gunship while attending a wedding, according to the Afghan government. The Pentagon has denied the US plane instigated the attack.]
Abdullah: What our people want to see happen in Afghanistan is a continuation of the rooting out of terrorist cells that still operate out of our country. But [our allies should be] doing this in a manner that does not endanger civilian lives. Of course accidents happen sometimes as they did in the wedding party tragedy. We are requesting the United States and the Allied forces that they make quite certain that future targets are ascertained as belonging to terrorists before any bombing mission is undertaken.

EurasiaNet: After the assassination of Haji Qadir, have there been any new security measures for Kabul and other areas?
Abdullah: Of course, whenever you have something as dramatic as the assassination of a government minister or some key individual, security becomes automatically tighter than before. But in Afghanistan, the security of officials is one thing and establishing security for the whole country is another matter. This latter thing is not easy to achieve. It takes time and effort. But we are making good progress.

EurasiaNet: You and Haji Qadir seemed very close. Do you miss him?
Abdullah: His assassination was a national and a personal tragedy. I lost a good friend who was like a brother to me. But many people felt the same way; so many people-- from all ethnic groups-- looked up to him. So he didn't belong to one specific group. We saw the role he played during the Loya Jirga, [the grand legislative council that elected Karzai]. His influence in the process of Loya Jirga was decisive and everyone was quite aware of it; no doubt his enemies were aware of it also. We still have many individuals who wish to see this government and this national unity destroyed. So in answer to your question, I feel a great personal loss with his death, but I am heartened with our unity in this country and am quite certain that no act of assassination could derail the work that has begun.

EurasiaNet: Is there any new information about his assassination?
Abdullah: The investigations are still underway. It's nothing new that I could tell you. Before I left Kabul, the people who are working on the case, gave a brief report of their findings to Mr. Karzai. But they still need to talk to more people and interrogate a few other individuals before they announce their report.

EurasiaNet: How did you feel about the whole Loya Jirga process?
Abdullah: I think it was on the whole fairly successful. Of course I would have liked to see a few minor changes. For example I would have preferred a smaller and more effective cabinet. But we cannot ignore the special political situation in Afghanistan. The present cabinet does have a good balance. We have technocrats in it.

EurasiaNet: When is the money promised to Afghanistan finally reaching the country? Will this be one of the things you will discuss in Washington?
Abdullah: It's difficult to say exactly when. It couldn't be delivered before because we needed to develop an infrastructure for receiving it, plus the fact that most countries were waiting for the Loya Jirga to take place. So with the success of the Loya Jirga, we should be seeing the funds transferred shortly, once a mechanism is in place. So I expect to see the money arriving pretty soon. In the United States, this will not be the only or the most pressing thing on the agenda but we will discuss ways of accelerating the process.