Rabbani Meets Dostum

After embracing along the road in front of Dostums uniformed soldiers near this dusty city 400 km northwest of Kabul, Rabbani and the Afghan warlord drove off in a convoy for talks at Dostums stronghold.

The main obstacle to the Islamic fundamentalist Talibans bid to gain control of all of Afghanistan has been General Ahmad Shah Masood, Rabbanis military commander.

But Tuesdays meeting with Rabbani and other developments pointed to a growing opposition to the Talibans advance.

In New Delhi, Rabbanis ambassador to India, Masood Khalili, told reporters that Dostum had sent a message announcing his support for the ousted leader.

 

We have received a message in the morning, Khalili said. He (Dostum) is also in the coalition of the government of President Rabbani.

Asked if Rabbani and Dostum had formed an alliance, the diplomat said: I am firm they have come together.

Dostum controls six northern Afghan provinces while the Taliban now control about three-quarters of the countrys 33 provinces.

Iranian television said on Monday night that Rabbani told its correspondent in Afghanistan that his government was regrouping to move against the Taliban, which captured the capital Kabul two weeks ago.

Dostum avoided answering reporters questions but before he and Rabbani left for Dostums Kala Jangy base west of here he said: Masood will come today or if he cannot make it today then tomorrow.

Others in the Dostum entourage told reporters virtually every major figure opposed to the Taleban in Afghanistan would gather here in the next few days.

The Taleban offensive against the valley stronghold of Masood has stalled after resistance from Afghanistans ousted military chief a few hundred metres (yards) into the gorge.

Masood forces, making use of native knowledge of the mountain range spanning the steep valley, shelled Taleban positions near the entrance to the gorge and the few fighters manning frontline peaks alongside the valley.

Word of Dostums apparent pledge of allegiance came as the international outcry over the Talebans treatment of women snowballed. The Taleban dismissed criticism of their policies by the United Nations and other Western nations.

Afghan society is different from Western society, said Maulvi Wakil Ahmed, a senior member of the Taleban shura (council) contacted in the southern city of Kandahar.

The Taleban have told women employees, with the exception of health workers, to stay at home until the administration decides how they can return to work without being in contact with men.

In Afghan society it is impossible for women to live as they do in Western society, he said. We are working on womens rights in the light of Afghan society and Islam.

He said there had been a misunderstanding between the Taleban administration in Kabul and the UN, the US and other countries. This was partly due to what he called incorrect reporting by the media, who see everything in Kabul through Western eyes.

UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali has warned the Taleban that discrimination against women in employment and education could seriously affect relief programmes.

The US also warned the new Islamist rulers on Monday that they risked forfeiting reconstruction aid for Afghanistan if they continued to restrict womens rights.