Achkhabad | Sunday
US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday described his brief tour of Afghanistan and meeting with its interim leader Hamid Karzai as ”very useful”.
Rumsfeld, who conducted a one-day whistle-stop tour of the country on Saturday, discussed security issues with Karzai and met other leaders of ethnic factions who had been involved in Afghanistan’s long civil war.
”It was useful to meet the players, to hear what they were thinking. I wanted to hear things first hand,” he told reporters.
On Saturday Rumsfeld promised Karzai that the United States would next month release funds to help finance the formation of a future Afghan national army.
The United States has pledged a multi-million-dollar aid package to equip and train the fledgling force.
He also held talks with prominent Afghans representing different ethnic groups in the interim government, including Interior Minister Yunus Qanoono and Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim – both Tajiks – and representatives of the Hazara community.
Before he left the country, Rumsfeld stopped in the strategic western city of Herat to meet Ismail Khan, the powerful Tajik governor of Herat province, which borders Iran.
”He is a very interesting, deep man,” Rumsfeld said Sunday.
Khan expressed his support for a future national army, endorsing it as ”a good thing”, according to Pentagon representative Victoria Clarke.
Rumsfeld refused to answer questions about Iran, a country with which Khan maintains close links.
Washington recently accused Tehran of sheltering al-Qaida extremists fleeing US-led offensives in Afghanistan and of attempting to arm anti-government factions. – Sapa-AFP