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| NEWSMAKER: ZALMAY KHALILZAD | |
 February 15, 2002  |
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The U.S. envoy to Afghanistan discusses efforts to bring peace to the war-torn nation.
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RAY
SUAREZ: The latest riots in Kabul-at the soccer game and the airport--
underscore the danger facing international peacekeepers there.
In December, as part of the deal to create Hamid Karzai's new regime, U.N. and Afghan leaders established a six-month peacekeeping force of 4,500 soldiers. Led by British troops, the international security force is represented by 16 nations; Americans are not participating. By mandate, the force monitors only the capital, Kabul. But Hamid Karzai wants more peacekeepers in more areas. He told the NewsHour that the Afghan people would benefit.
RAY SUAREZ: When Karzai visited the White House two weeks ago, President Bush was silent on the issue, though he did offer to help build an Afghan army and police force. Since then, some administration officials have expressed a willingness to expand the security force. |
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| An assassination in Kabul? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RAY SUAREZ: For more on the situation in Afghanistan, we turn to President Bush's special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad. He was born in Afghanistan and came to the USA in 1966 as a student; he's been working here ever since. Welcome. ZALMAY KHALILZAD: Thank you. It's nice to be here. RAY SUAREZ: Well, you spoke to President Karzai earlier today about the situation, the alleged assassination. What did he tell you? ZALMAY KHALILZAD: Well, what he said was that while yesterday they thought that those who wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca might have been responsible for what happened to the minister of aviation, but in fact overnight the investigation indicated that there was a conspiracy involving some security officials from the intelligence agency and the Defense Department.
Three of them had gone to Saudi Arabia with the pilgrims yesterday. Mr. Karzai has asked the Saudis for the return of those people immediately. And the Saudis have agreed to do so. RAY SUAREZ: Now here is an example, the minister Abdul Rahman, minister of aviation in this new interim authority, a man who the President, Hamid Karzai describes as having changed sides at one time. These are just the kind of splits that the almost threatened to pull apart the Bonn Conference that created his government in the first place; that these vendettas can last, if this is indeed how the killing happened, what does that tell us about the state of the administrati | ||||||||||||||||||||
Afghanistan
has long been considered lawless, in part because local warlords have
carved up the country. Last month in the southern city of Gardez, 50
men died in factional fighting over control of the governorship. 
HAMID
KARZAI: This force gives them the sense that the international community
is with us now, that we will not be left alone in the region.
Those
people had a vendetta against the minister of aviation dating back to
the war against the Taliban. At that time the minister had been a member
of the Northern Alliance and subsequently broke away from them and joined
the wrong group and that those officials who were responsible have been
identified and have been fired.