The UN special envoy to Afghanistan on Sunday urged moderates within the Taliban militia to "lift their heads," cooperate with the international community and save themselves from political elimination.
"Their behavior in the coming weeks will say something as to whether they are acceptable for the future," Francesc Vendrell, who heads the UN Special Mission on Afghanistan, told AFP in an interview.
Vendrell stressed that the political survival of the Taliban lay in their own hands, especially those of the more moderate elements who the UN believes are "unhappy" about the close links between the Islamic militia's leadership and Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
"It is very important for these people to lift their heads now," Vendrell said.
"If they don't, they may end up being tarred with the same brush as the rest of the most extreme elements of the Taliban."
The crisis in Afghanistan, where the Taliban faces possible US military strikes for its refusal to hand over bin Laden, has rejuvenated long-standing, UN-backed efforts to build a new, broad-based government in the war-torn country.
Vendrell referred to "decent people" within the heart of the Taliban who could play a role in pushing forward the extradition of bin Laden -- prime suspect in the September 11 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington.
"They were people who were willing to discuss in depth and at length ideas on the future of Afghanistan, what terrorism meant, what jihad [holy war] meant and what religion meant," he said.
But he warned that the moderates had to make their voices heard now, before the situation took an even more serious turn that might make it "impossible to include any Taliban" in a future negotiated political settlement.
"There is a narrow window of opportunity," Vendrell said.
"The events of the coming weeks will lead them to either change their approach, or will lead them to be eliminated from power."
As Afghanistan's exiled former king Zahir Shah and members of the anti-Taliban opposition alliance gathered for talks in Rome on Sunday, Vendrell said the Taliban should enter the dialogue while they still could.
"Any platform should be opened to other Afghans, if other Afghans emerge, so it should be as broad as possible."
Vendrell said the 86-year-old Shah, ousted in the early 1970s but still remembered favorably by many Afghans, was a rallying point of unity for the divided and war-torn country.
Vendrell's office has been working for several years to help the former monarch convene a traditional Afghan "loya jirga", or council of elders, to promote dialogue between the warring parties and end the civil wars which have blighted the country for a decade.
But Vendrell said no one was suggesting the monarchy should be restored, or even play an executive role in any future political scenario.
"Zahir Shah is a supreme elder of elders, and even the respect with which Afghan people see him now should play a role in any transition," he said.
"We are not talking of a role for Zahir Shah as executive leader of a transitional government, only a nominal role as a flag around which Afghans can rally around. He is not seeking an executive role."
He said talks on Afghanistan's future also had to consider the interests of neighboring countries, to end the foreign interference which has helped to prolong the fighting for so long.
"It is very important that any solution for Afghanistan will be acceptable to all the neighboring countries, not only Pakistan but the others too," Vendrell said -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
