October 25, 2001
The UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, Thursday ruled out the possibility of a post-Taliban UN peacekeeping force, and stressed instead Afghan's right to self-determination.
"I rule out the idea of a UN administration, like the one in Kosovo or East Timor, because each situation is different," Brahimi told the Italian daily Correiere della Serra. "The Afghans will never accept foreign troops" on their soil, he said.
Brahimi said that he thought "the only durable solution is the self-determination of the Afghan people." "They alone must choose and never accept a solution imposed from the outside," he said, adding that he thought "the UN will never support such a formula."
He said he thought the opposition Northern Alliance should be a main member in any post-Taliban government.
The fall of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime is presumed to be a goal of US-led strikes on Afghanistan, now entering their third week, in reprisal for the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
On Wednesday, Afghan exiled opposition leaders meeting in Pakistan to discuss a post-Taliban administration said they supported an interim UN peacekeeping force in the country.
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