Kazakhstan offers to host Afghanistan talks

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has offered to host talks on ending the conflict in Afghanistan, the visiting U.N. special envoy on Afghanistan said.

Afghanistan is mostly controlled by the radical Islamic Taleban, which is recognized by only three countries, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

The opposition Northern Alliance, recognized by the U.N. and most of its country members, holds about five percent of the country.

The U.N. envoy, Francesc Vendrell, was speaking to reporters after meeting Nazarbayev in Almaty, Kazakhstan's commercial capital.

"Nazarbayev confirmed his readiness to organise a meeting of all sides interested in the Afghan process...to achieve a peaceful solution to the Afghan question," he said.

"I noted that President Nazarbayev is very well versed in the situation in Afghanistan, and his views coincide with those of the United Nations and my own views on the problems of Afghanistan," he added, speaking through an interpreter.

Kazakhstan does not border Afghanistan, but shares frontiers with three other former Soviet central Asian states which do -- Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Central Asia's presidents have identified the potential spread of Islam fundamentalism from Afghanistan, as one of the greatest threats to regional security.

Taleban recently destructed two ancient Buddhist statues, which it deemed un-Islamic, despite pleas and criticisms from the U.N. and world leaders.

Central Asian neighbors Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have for two years beaten back incursions by Islamic extremists said to be penetrating from Afghanistan.

The Central Asian countries were also worried with the drug trade in the region. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium.

Six-plus-two countries

The U.N. envoy also called for combined efforts by neighboring states, plus Russia and the United States, to produce a peaceful settlement in the country.

According to Vendrell, the countries joined in the "six-plus-two" group, which comprises Afghanistan's neighbors Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, plus Russia and the United States, had a major role to play in seeking peace.

"It is not in the interests of these countries to have a great deal of narcotics, and it is not in the interests of any of the neighbors to have a massive number of refugees flowing in and unwilling to return," he said.

Although the Central Asian countries do not recognize the Taleban, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have recently held talks with the group through their embassies in Islamabad.

Afghanistan has been ravaged by war for two decades, first after a 1979 invasion by Soviet troops, which ended with a pullout 10 years later, and then by fighting between warlords.

The Taleban and the opposition Northern Alliance fight a continuous political battle in the impoverished mountainous country.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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United Nations
Kazakhstan Consulate in New York

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