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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Northern Alliance Spokesman Harom Amin

Aired November 26, 2001 - 22:40   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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: What difficulties are there on the road to power sharing in Afghanistan?

Harom Amin is the spokesman for the Northern Alliance, and he joins us now.

Mr. Amin, what does the Northern Alliance want out of these meetings?

HAROM AMIN, NORTHERN ALLIANCE SPOKESMAN: I think that the objective for all the resistance against the Taliban and al Qaeda has been to establish a broad-based government in Afghanistan. We know that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that lies ahead and we know that in the past that it was because of keeping some people out of the loop, and that we may cause the war to continue in Afghanistan.

And I think that now these corrections have to be made to make sure that everybody from all ethnic groups of Afghanistan on a proportional basis would be represented in a future government of Afghanistan.

WOODRUFF: Who was left out of the loop before?

AMIN: There was apprehension by many that maybe the -- certain segments of the Afghan society, let's say in many cases the Pashtuns or many the Hazars, or the Uzbeks were not represented, or the Tajiks were not represented. And that was because no matter what sort of attempt was taken at the time to get everybody on board, it was the, I think, more interest of the neighboring states of Afghanistan that somehow prompted propaganda and things like that which eventually created the kind of problems in the past that we have seen over the years.

Now, in order to overcome those problems, all of the groups have been invited, and you have the United Front along with the king's people, and the king's predominantly are going to be...

WOODRUFF: United Front is your word for the Northern Alliance, right?

AMIN: For the -- yes, and the king's people, and the important thing is that the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) would be also included, and then you also have the Pashawar Convention. The report mentions that...

WOODRUFF: These are previous meetings, I see.

AMIN: No. These were the processes that have been going on for a long time, but now that's going to be under the umbrella of the United Nations, and I think with the help of the international community and various special envoys.

One thing to mention is that the Achmed Zi (ph) tribe, I don't think that there is any specific census as to how many millions they might be, but certainly it is not 5 million, because that would clearly put them at 25 percent of the Afghan population.

WOODRUFF: What is this tribe you're referring to?

AMIN: The Achmed Zi (ph), the documentary -- the piece that was there shown before.

WOODRUFF: Oh, yes. Right. Right.

AMIN: The important thing is that, for example, from the United Front, four of the eleven that will be going are going to be Pashtuns. You have one woman, and the rest are going to be Tajiks, Hazars and, you know, other groups. And then you've got the king's people also bringing in...

WOODRUFF: The woman is part of the Northern Alliance delegation, is that right? Out of all the people coming, what -- is the population of Afghanistan is 60 percent, only one woman in the whole group. Is it...

AMIN: Well, you have to remember that this is a mechanism that we're going to go for some sort of executive council that's going to take over from the current, you know, that's going to take over the affairs. And then that is going to be responsible for establishing another government, and then there's going to be the division in terms of the ministries and how many women are going to be working in the public sector and so on and so forth.

WOODRUFF: There are U.N. officials who said they expect an executive council to come out of this, that would in effect replace the Northern Alliance. Are you and others with the Alliance in agreement with this?

AMIN: Well, the key issue is peace, and I think that so far we have worked for peace. And I think it's the intention behind those that are working within the United Front is to bring that peace. And to work with everybody else in establishing this executive council.

I think that everyone is on board. Certainly, within the United Front there might be certain elements that may not want this to happen, and I think those would be on the fringe and those would be marginal. I see a clear intent by the United Front to go into peace talks.

WOODRUFF: But significant people in the Northern Alliance, former President Rabani, Mr. Abdullah Abdullah, have said that this meeting in Germany is just one meeting. That the substantive decisions will have to be taken inside Afghanistan, as if to say the Northern Alliance may not, may not give much credence to what comes out of the meeting in Bonn.

AMIN: I think that the idea is that they do not -- they want to somehow look into the over-expectations by many to say that these meetings outside the country may not yield the desired results. But, ultimately, they've endorsed this meeting. There was also some word of suspicion by many analysts, also by the king's people.

But the important thing is that the meeting is occurring. It's the first in a series. And I think that the United Nations and international community are providing the kind of pressure that might be desirable to have the Afghans work within themselves to produce the kind of executive council that is required.

WOODRUFF: All right. Harom Amin, spokesman for the Northern Alliance. It's good to see you again.

AMIN: Thank you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: We appreciate you coming by tonight. Thank you.

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