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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Omar Samad

Aired November 24, 2001 - 11:08   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: Reports indicate that leaders from Europe and Pakistan have reached an agreement that no multinational forces will enter Afghanistan until a transitional government has been established. Those leaders and the United Nations say that the next Afghan government must be more inclusive. And with all that in mind, the U.N. is hosting a summit coming up next week in Germany.

Joining us to discuss all this from Washington is Omar Samad. He's Director of the Afghanistan Information Center. Thanks for being with us this morning.

OMAR SAMAD, DIRECTOR, AFGHANISTAN INFORMATION CENTER: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: This is a complicated issue and they have quite a task ahead of them. First, let's take a look at who all's involved in these talks to give people an idea. We have, I believe we have a map or a graphic showing all the countries involved in these discussions.

We have Pakistan, Afghanistan, Britain, U.S. and Russia. How do you think this is going to begin with so many people involved in this discussion, so many countries involved in this, including Pakistan, to establish a post-Taliban government. How's it going to work?

SAMAD: Well, these countries will be at the Bonn meeting just as observers. They will not be part of the negotiations among Afghans that's going to take place.

So obviously, under the United Nations umbrella, they have been invited to observe what these Afghans are doing, and these are the main countries that are somehow involved in the Afghan crisis, or have been over the past few years, like Pakistan or Iran or Russia.

The main Afghan parties at the table consist of four major groupings. You have the group that represents the former king, who has proposed a loyajurga (ph) with the Grand Assembly as a mechanism through which the Afghans can basically decide what the future holds as far as a new government, post-Taliban government is concerned.

Then you have the Northern Alliance and they're obviously, as you know, there are various factions within the Northern Alliance, and they're still as of today trying to put together that team.

And then we have a small group that is called the Cyprus Process because they met in Cyprus on several occasions and they're backed somewhat by Iran. And then you have the Afghan groups that are based in Pakistan, and they're somewhat backed by Pakistan.

So that's basically the Afghans that will be meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

CALLAWAY: But you're talking about years of conflict between some of these tribes. Do you think that this is going to be able to work, be worked out soon?

SAMAD: You know, I'm more of an optimist when it comes to these negotiations, and Afghanistan has gone through so much as you just said, 23 years of conflict. I'm hoping that the Afghans have learned quite a bit from their past mistakes.

I'm hoping that the foreign countries that have been involved in Afghanistan, especially Pakistan, to a certain degree Iran and others, have also learned from their past mistakes, not to repeat them and make sure that the Afghans are empowered through their legitimate representatives.

CALLAWAY: Right.

SAMAD: To decide what fate the country will have.

CALLAWAY: So you really feel like they're more likely, more willing to make concessions than perhaps before this. Give us an idea of what kind of responsibility this, an interim government would have there in Afghanistan.

SAMAD: The main responsibility for the interim government, which may last up to two years if they decide that that will be the time frame, will be to first of all draft a constitution that will at the end of the two years have to be accepted through a real loyajurga (ph).

You also, they also will have to probably form a national security force or some type of a national army in order to be able to have authority and also have security in the country.

This government will also start the reconstruction process, which is obviously very important in the future, and already we see signs in the international community as very adamant and very serious to start the reconstruction parallel to the peace talks.

CALLAWAY: Are you talking about rebuilding a nation, reconstructing a nation after 20 years of a civil war, what an incredible task it would be. How different will it actually be, when it all comes down, from the Taliban government.

SAMAD: Very different. The Taliban were not concerned about rebuilding or reconstructing. They had no notion of how to run a government. They had no notion of what international law was. You know, all they cared about was how to impose their very strict interpretation of Islam -- which is somewhat very skewed from mainstream Islam, and the Islam that Afghans traditionally are used to -- on the people of Afghanistan and they brought in all these foreign fighters to help them impose that rule.

So it is going to be very different. It's going to be hopefully an Afghan process, reflecting the will and the traditions of Afghanistan in the best way possible.

CALLAWAY: But you have to wonder just how democratic, you know, that's what Americans like to hear, how democratic...

SAMAD: Yes.

CALLAWAY: ... would a post-Taliban government be in Afghanistan.

SAMAD: Well, I for one also hope that it will be as democratic as possible, meaning that first of all, you have the major ethnic groups, the major regional groups, and the major political and military groups that have to be represented, because today they are the reality on the ground.

Later on as we move toward the future and over through the interim period, we need to look at a more democratic system that needs to be put in place so that it can reflect the will of the individual in Afghanistan, and I think that most Afghans would like to see such a system come about as soon as possible.

CALLAWAY: And having Britain and the U.S. and Russia there overseeing this, do you think this is the pressure that's needed?

SAMAD: Absolutely. I think that the pressure from the outside is incredibly important. Obviously the pressure from inside is also important. You already see Afghans, men and women forming groups, even demonstrations calling for this and that, trying to show that they want to be part of the policy making structure of the country.

And this in itself is a democratic example that needs to be followed and I hope the international community takes advantage of this and helps the Afghan follow the democratic path.

CALLAWAY: Omar, it's difficult to be positive about this going as smoothly as one might hope when you're talking about all the different factions in Afghanistan, and really trying to get everyone to agree after so many years. You do seem somewhat positive about that.

SAMAD: I do. After 23 years of bloodshed and conflict and destruction, you can't help it but be optimistic. But obviously, that doesn't mean that there are no pitfalls and there are no dangers ahead. There are, and so we need to work them out.

We need to know what those pitfalls are and we need to have contingency plans, and we need to work our way around them.

CALLAWAY: Omar Samad, a long road ahead for Afghanistan. Thank you for joining us this morning and sharing your thoughts.

SAMAD: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com