Rabbani presser, comments on ground situation and Bonn

(25 Nov 2001)

1. Various exterior of building
2. Various of journalists at presser
3. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Burhanuddin Rabbani, Former President of Afghanistan
"The makeup of the delegation is 50% plus one (i.e. eleven) belonging to the United Front, the government of Afghanistan, and the rest for other groups. That's eleven for the United Front, the Islamic government and ten others: four from Rome, three from Peshawar and three from Babriz."
4. Cutaway journalists
5. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Burhanuddin Rabbani, Former President of Afghanistan
"There is one woman on the list, Mrs Amira Afzeli."
6. Cutaway camera
7. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Burhanuddin Rabbani, Former President of Afghanistan
"Yesterday 500 people defected in Mazar-i-Sharif. Basically they wanted to go with their weapons at a place called Chemtal. There was a pocket of Taliban who were forgiven before. In this group most of them were Arabs and foreigners. They started to go with their weapons but our commander in Mazar-I-Sharif told them that the decision is they should come without their weapons."
8. Cutaway soldiers
9. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Burhanuddin Rabbani, Former President of Afghanistan
"I gave instructions to general Dostom that despite their crimes don't punish them, make them safe. And they're safe. I gave the same instruction to the commander of Takhar. If someone defects today, don't punish them. Now I'm making sure that the surrounded people of Kunduz, we won't punish one of them. If they were killed during the fight, that's another issue. Because of that purpose we try not to attack Kunduz to avoid the killing of the surrounded people."
10 Cutaway
11. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Burhanuddin Rabbani, Former President of Afghanistan
"I watched on the tv that there were some Arabs that were killed by the United Front and the Islamic government and you see it is not logical. The time that we pushed them back it took only one day. We didn't have time to round them up and kill them and put them in one mass grave. In one day we didn't have the opportunity to bury them and put soil on them and there was a lot of soil on them."
12 .Rabbani leaving presser

STORYLINE:

At a press conference in Kabul on Sunday, the former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani said that captured foreigners who had fought for the Taliban could be handed over to the United Nations.

Rabbani, who is head of the Northern Alliance, also known as the United Front, said that he had instructed his commander in Kunduz not to punish Taliban fighters who defect to the alliance.

And he denied claims that the alliance had massacred foreign pro-Taliban fighters.

Rabbani also outlined his delegation to Bonn for Tuesday's talks, which are aimed at paving the way for an Afghan government that is broad-based and multiethnic.

Rabbani said that there would be one woman in his delegation - a symbolic move given the Taliban's policy on women.

Meanwhile, Northern Alliance troops entered Kunduz on Sunday and the city's Taliban and foreign defenders were surrendering - so far peacefully - by the thousands, alliance commanders said.

Kunduz was defended by Taliban and foreign fighters including many Pakistani, Arab and Chechen volunteers, some loyal to Osama bin Laden.

Humanitarian organisations have said they fear a bloodbath in Kunduz if the foreign fighters are captured.

But Rabbani, said there would be no slaughter of surrendering Taliban or foreign troops.

Rabbani was ousted by the Taliban when they captured Kabul in 1996, but he retains U-N recognition as president.

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