Thread by @nimkef

23 April 1998

SLOWLY Afghanistan has crept up the list of places that something should be done about. 17 April, Bill Richardson, America's chief delegate to the United Nations, arrived in Kabul for what he described as “tough discussions”.

web.archive.org/web/2022013119…

No American official of Mr Richardson's seniority has set foot in Afghanistan for well over 20 years. The last top gun may have been Henry Kissinger. After the Russians invaded the country in 1979, the Americans stayed clear of it, except to arm Afghan guerrillas.

In his book “Diplomacy”, Mr Kissinger says that the United States had nothing in common with the guerrillas. “Yet they shared a common enemy, and in the world of national interest, that made them allies.”

These days, America probably cares even less for the Taliban, who now rule most of Afghanistan, and practise a strict form of Islamism; but national interest has arisen again, and this was the reason for Mr Richardson's visit.

The Taliban have been far more successful than anyone guessed when they started their uprising in 1994, apparently with Pakistani support. A chunk of the country's north is all that is now denied them.

But they are recognised as the government only by Saudi Arabia, which gives them money, and by the UAE and Pakistan. The forces holed up in the northern enclave, who fled from Kabul, are still, in the eyes of most of the world, the legitimate rulers of the country.

In Taliban-run Afghanistan there is mostly peace. There is order in the towns and the roads have been cleared of bandits.

For the ordinary Afghan this is worth having after years of civil war, even if it means growing a beard to please the Taliban bigots, covering your wife from head to foot in a sack and turning up in the market square to watch thieves having their hands cut off.

In his “tough” talking with the Taliban, Mr Richardson said that America was not at all keen on the way Afghan women were treated. He asked that they should be allowed to resume unimpeded the jobs they had before the Taliban imposed restrictions on their movement.

A few weeks ago the UN withdrew from Kandahar after the Taliban said Muslim women aid workers, including doctors, had to be accompanied by a male relation. But Richardson knows that many countries are keen for a “solution” in Afghanistan.

Even Iran, an old foe of America, but a neighbour of Afghanistan, has had discussions with American officials about the problem of refugees.

Richardson did not go to Kabul solely, or even mainly, to plead for women's rights.

America would like to end the uncertain status of this large country in the centre of Asia. He hinted that possible recognition of the Kabul government was in America's mind if there were genuine progress towards a peace settlement.

To the north are the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which are now seen as an abundant source of oil and gas. To the south is Pakistan with its outlet to the Arabian sea.

For years western oil companies have been plotting possible pipelines across Afghanistan to the sea and so to the West. At present most oil and gas has to be exported though Russia, which adds its own premium.

A peaceful Afghanistan makes an alternative route possible. Taliban representatives have had talks in the United States with at least one American oil company.

https://twitter.com/nimkef/status/1481079788135669763?s=20&t=d2jhKd71TNkw8ry4cjbfMQ

The northern enclave, though small, is well armed, mainly by Russia, which fears the spread of Islam ever closer to its borders. Its fighters are experienced and have their backs to the wall. Several times they have given the Taliban a terrible mauling.

After his meeting in Kabul, Richardson flew to Sheberghan in the northern enclave. The Kabul crowd had agreed to a meeting with their foes, he said, and meantime would observe a ceasefire. The northerners said yes, and talks were fixed for 25 April in Islamabad, Pakistan

Talks are unlikely to be conclusive, but are expected to be a start, presumably of a new slog by the West. A Taliban newspaper gave warned, if Richardson didn't seek a solution “in conformity with the exact religious, national and present political realities”, he would fail

It does not sound encouraging, but there is no alternative to having a try. Caspar Weinberger, like Mr Kissinger a veteran of negotiations with the Afghans, once observed that “we knew they were not very nice people,” but “we had this terrible problem of making choices.”

13 April 1998

The Clinton Admin's roving diplomatic problem-solver and UN rep, Bill Richardson, is bringing some timely US leverage to bear on the problems of civil war and fundamentalist repression in Afghanistan.

web.archive.org/web/2015052708…

Both problems flow from the war waged there in the 1980's between Soviet troops and US-backed Muslim guerrillas.

After driving out Soviet troops in 1989, Afghanistan's Islamic forces turned on each other.

Richardson will arrive this week during a lull in fighting before the winter snows melt and will carry a UN peace initiative supported by all of Afghanistan's neighbors, several of which have been channeling support to competing Afghan factions.

The most significant foreign involvement comes from Pakistan, which helps the Taliban, and from Iran and Russia, which give arms and other aid to its opponents. Afghanistan is proving to be an issue on which US and Iran share common goals and have been able to work together

So was Ahmed Shah Massoud and the Northern Alliance backed by Russia and Iran?

Also I wonder if Sirrs UN source was Burhanuddin Rabbani

https://twitter.com/nimkef/status/1481079761720037379?s=20&t=d2jhKd71TNkw8ry4cjbfMQ

"Leslie Caldwell’s letter refers to a relationship between Evgeny, a Russian arms dealer, and Northern Alliance leader, Massoud. From those connections, Sater made other connections"

https://twitter.com/supersleuthgrl/status/1477458491002396673?s=20&t=uAI7uZj7pXi_vRCRiS08dQ

* Evgeny Shmykov