-Caveat Lector- http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orl-asec-afghan122301.story?co
ll=orl%2Dhome%2Dheadlines WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Thousands cheer promise of peace By Carol J. Williams | Foreign correspondent Posted December 23, 2001 Sacred pledge. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Dec 23, 2001 KABUL, Afghanistan -- In an outpouring of resolve to escape a legacy of bloodshed, Afghan aristocrats and warlords who were sworn in to a new government here Saturday vowed to lead their country out of the darkness that has made it a nation of beggars and rubble. Proclaiming that "The sun has once again risen over my native land," Prime Minister Hamid Karzai took the oath of office before a rowdy and emotional audience of 2,000 tribal elders, diplomats and dignitaries. Interrupted by shouts of "Allah is great!" from joyous onlookers, he pledged to make a success of his opportunity to heal the wounds of war and isolation. "I promise you that I will fulfill my mission to bring peace to Afghanistan," said Karzai, who was dressed in a green and purple silk caftan and his signature karakul fur hat. The ethnic Pashtun aristocrat returned from exile in Pakistan in October to lead the fight for the liberation of Kandahar, the last stronghold of Afghanistan’s hated Taliban regime. He is to preside over an interim administration for six months. During that time, a commission appointed by his Cabinet will organize a transition to an executive and legislature that will wield authority for two more years, until elections are held for offices in a permanent civilian government. In his speech, Karzai also appealed for help from his countrymen to end Afghanistan’s poverty and isolation. "Our country, as a result of the long war, has been distracted. We need hard work from all Afghans," he said. "We must put our hands together and be brothers and friends. We must forget the painful past." The nearly three-hour ceremony at the Interior Ministry, where the only conference hall large enough for such an event was crammed with people hungry for a turn in history, marked the first time in 28 years that power has been transferred to a new Afghan government without the use of guns. Western diplomats midwifed the new 30-member Cabinet into existence at tense negotiations in Germany earlier this month, but Karzai and the foreign leaders who attended his inauguration to show their support made clear that the onus is on Afghans to prove they can feed the population’s hunger for peace. At a news conference just hours after his inauguration, Karzai, 43, cautioned that the significance of this transfer of power will be fully apparent only after the government has served its term. "If we deliver what we have promised to the Afghan people, this will be known as a great day. If we don’t deliver this, it will be recorded as the day of oblivion," he said. The United Nations’ special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, assured Afghans who followed the inaugural festivities on radio that Karzai will lead them "with wisdom and foresight." But he also cautioned the Cabinet members who only a few months ago were at war with one another that they face tough challenges and the wrath of the people if they fail. "The men and women of this proud nation have shown great strength, courage and dignity through tragedy, but we must never forget what they have suffered," Brahimi said, blaming the international community for failing to guide Afghanistan through earlier troubles. "An entire generation has grown up never knowing the simple joys of a peaceful life." Since a 1973 palace coup that ousted the last king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, Afghans have weathered a succession of bloody putsches, the 1979 Soviet invasion, civil wars and power struggles among rival Islamic factions. Securing the peace and a chance for reconstruction is the priority for the new leadership, Karzai said. The head of a Pashtun dynasty who speaks flawless English and deftly negotiates the diplomatic minefields still surrounding the new regime, Karzai brushed off reporters’ suggestions that some members of his Cabinet harbor destabilizing ambitions. He also insisted that there is unity among the ministers on the need for an international peacekeeping force whose members have just begun arriving and could number as many as 5,000 by late next month. The biggest threat to the new Cabinet earlier appeared to be former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, 62, who originally undermined the agreement on Afghanistan’s future that was signed near Bonn, Germany, on Dec. 5 and who repeatedly has sought to impose conditions on the power structure that is supposed to replace him. But Rabbani, who held on to U.N. recognition as the Afghan head of state during the five years of Taliban rule, struck a conciliatory note as he passed the mantle of power to Karzai. Camouflage-clad Afghan gunmen -- many of them former Northern Alliance soldiers now wielding their Kalashnikov rifles as police officers -- virtually shut down the center of Kabul, the capital, to provide security for the invited guests. Speeding motorcades carrying Western dignitaries provided a comical contrast with the hordes of turbaned regional elders of every ethnic ilk who arrived in convoys of battered trucks and buses. Interest in the transfer of power was so intense that guests overwhelmed security forces at the Interior Ministry, crushing through a single door, where police were attempting to control entry, in such a torrent that an explosive-sniffing dog had to be removed for his own safety. Few of the arrivals, who sported festive turbans and traditional tunics, received even a cursory pat on the chest to check them for weapons. After securing peace and stability, Karzai said, his next priority for his six-month term will be to channel international aid to the daunting task of rebuilding this shattered country. Most urban housing is damaged or destroyed, the vast majority of the population is unemployed, and every element of infrastructure is in shambles, from bomb-scarred roads to shuttered schools to contaminated water systems and ancient power-distribution equipment. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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