Straw: Afghan talks bode well

Patrick Hennessy12 April 2012

Jack Straw today held out hope that this week's Bonn talks between representatives of Afghanistan's ethnic groups would lead to a broad-based interim authority for the country - and possibly future elections.

The Foreign Secretary claimed the Taliban was making its "last stand" and said the "political process" was crucial in mapping out the future.

Mr Straw told Radio 4's Today programme: "I think it will lead to the beginnings of a transitional authority and, over the longer period, of a proper and well functioning state . . . where there was no state at all."

He dismissed concerns that the Afghan faction leaders were just sending deputies to Bonn, saying preliminary negotiations were often more successful in this way, and he noted that the Northern Alliance delegation included a woman and a member of the Pashtun ethnic group, from which the Taliban draws most of its support.

"That does give an indication that everybody going to that meeting is concerned to ensure the interim authority and government is broad-based," Mr Straw said.

"The challenge in Bonn is to develop a process where the warlords become representatives of their populations and, over time, get their authority legitimised, first by a general council in Afghanistan and later by elections.

"That process . . . has happened elsewhere and can happen successfully."

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