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CNN Live Saturday

Factions Come Together for Burial of Tourism Minister

Aired February 16, 2002 - 22:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: In Afghanistan, there are hopes something good can emerge from the death of a government minister. Today, struggling factions came together for the burial of tourism minister Dr. Abdul Rahman, whose killing has been called an assassination.

Here is CNN's Brian Palmer from Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Afghanistan's most powerful and influential men, generals, ministers, and the interim head of state gathered at Kabul's Wazir Ahbakan (ph) Mosque to pay final respects to Dr. Abdul Rahman, the government minister killed on Thursday.

Rahman was once a member of the Northern Alliance, before aligning himself with the former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah. The men accused of stabbing Dr. Rahman to death at Kabul Airport were high- ranking Northern Alliance figures, leading some to suspect this was a political assassination and raising the specter of renewed conflict between contending factions within the government.

(on camera): With soldiers ringing the hillsides around the cemetery, Dr. Abdul Rahman was laid to rest here in Kabul.

(voice-over): At least for one day, differences in tensions between the various factions within the coalition government were put on hold to honor one of their own. Chairman Karzai delivered a grave side eulogy that was also a plea to the nation to rescue itself from violence. Former president Bur-Han Uddin Rabbani, who was not given a role in the interim government, stood side by side with Karzai.

BUR-HAN UDDIN RABBANI: Now that the situation is improving, we are emerging from darkness to a brighter future. But the hands of corrupt people have killed and martyred an honest friend of the interim government.

PALMER: Nessara Hamad (ph), Rahman's brother, spoke for the family.

NESSARA (ph) HAMAD: I just want to say that the doctor was my brother. And apart from our brotherhood, he was the son of the nation. PALMER: At a Friday night news conference, an agitated Karzai blasted the men accused of killing Dr. Rahman.

HAMID KARZAI, INTERIM AFGHANISTAN LEADER: We announced those names for are the names of the people who have committed this crime. And they will be taken and arrested.

PALMER: But a government spokesman now stresses that the men are still only suspects. He repeated Chairman Karzai's assertion that the killing of Rahman was personal, not political.

OMAR SAMAD, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: At this point, no one is accusing any one group or faction within this coalition or this government of having a hand in the killing of anyone.

PALMER: Samad promises that the investigation into the Rahman killing will be conducted according to the rule of law. And he says the current administration is up to the task of investigating itself and living with the findings.

Brian Palmer, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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