WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrives in Pakistan Sunday on a mission that many consider the most difficult task the world body has ever undertaken -- forming a post-Taliban government.
To do so, he will be urging Afghan leaders and neighboring nations to support a broad-based government to take over Afghanistan from the religious militia.
U.N. officials in Islamabad told United Press International Brahimi is unlikely to visit Afghanistan in the near future because of the prevailing situation.
However, they said that he will contact all the Afghan factions during this visit to the region that will also take him to neighboring Iran. In Pakistan, he is expected to meet representatives of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, the so-called Taliban dissidents and prominent members of Afghanistan's majority Pashtun tribe who are still supporting the Taliban.
In Iran, he will meet leaders of the opposition Northern Alliance and representatives of the minority Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara ethnic groups.
Although not yet announced, he may also visit the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and even Russia who are cooperating with the United States in its war on terrorism and have links with various Afghan factions.
In Pakistan, he is expected to meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and hold formal talks with Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar.
In Iran, he will hold similar talks with President Mohammed Khatemi and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the House International Relations Committee that Washington believes the United Nations should play a leading role in any future political settlement in Afghanistan.
While acknowledging that Afghanistan's neighbors must also be consulted, he warned that Pakistan or any other nation in the region can no longer play a dominant rule in Afghanistan's post-Taliban government.
"Even the United States cannot play such a role" as the Afghans will never accept a government imposed from outside, Powell said.
Brahimi, who is a former Algerian foreign minister, echoed Powell's views when he told the U.N. Security Council before leaving for the region that the government "that is not made-in-Afghanistan" has no chance in Kabul.
Powell has appointed a special envoy, Richard Haas, to liaise with Brahimi, as the United States wants to have at least an interim government in Kabul to secure the city.
The United States and various Afghan factions also want the United Nations to raise a peacekeeping force of mainly Muslim nations for restoring peace to Afghanistan after the expected collapse of the Taliban regime.
The opposition Northern Alliance is planning a major offensive on the Afghan capital, hoping that the Taliban may not be able to fight back after more than two weeks of relentless airstrikes.
Diplomatic sources in Islamabad said that like Washington, the United Nations opposes handing over Kabul to any one faction or group of parties, like the Northern Alliance.
U.S. airstirkes on Taliban positions around Kabul to hasten its fall to the opposition have added a new urgency to talks for forming a broad-based government. More than 1,500 Afghan leaders and tribal chiefs met in Peshawar, Pakistan, this week for forming a political force to replace the Taliban. A similar meeting scheduled to begin in Turkey on Saturday had to be cancelled after the execution of a prominent Afghan commander by the Taliban on Friday.
"I will definitely be listening and talking and seeking if any can do something about it, and perhaps even suggesting ideas myself," Brahimi told the Security Council.
"But I always underline that by asking the United Nations to take charge of this problem does not necessarily mean the United Nations can produce miracles out of a hat."
Brahimi opposed the suggestion to dispatch a United Nations peacekeeping force to Afghanistan. "I don't think it is appropriate," he said. "Peacekeeping means there is a peace to keep," he said.
"So by definition this is a situation which is not ready for that. For peacekeeping you need the agreement of all the parties on the ground, and if you do not have that, you need to call it something else."
Brahimi also expressed doubts about the success of a solution proposed by the European Union. It calls for a force composed of European nations, along with Canada or Australia, and possibly even the United States to control Kabul after the Taliban. "Such a solution can only work if the Afghans also support it," he warned.
Brahimi instead favors "an all-Afghan force" that should include troops from all Afghan factions. Since such a force can only be formed with the agreement of all Afghan factions, "one hopes that it will have a better chance to succeed," he said.
Powell, however, has said that forming such a force will be a daunting task.
