Former Afghan Premier Hopes To Organise Resistance To USA

In a telephone interview with the Qatar al-Jazeera TV station from Teheran Gulbuddin Hekmatiyar, former Prime Minister of Afghanistan and leader of the Islamic party of Afghanistan, said he hoped to create an alliance with Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar to form a coalition government in the country. Hekmatiyar claimed the party he leads would play an efficient role in counteracting the United States "the way it did it before, fighting against the Soviet Union." According to him, the Americans are trying to form a military base in Mazar-i-Sharif but will encounter resistance from Afghan guerillas. Hekmatiyar is sure to form a coalition government it is first necessary to "stop the war, then elect a council representing all political factions and tribes" of the country. "Such a council should perform the functions of an interim government until the country's new constitution is drafted." The activity of the pro-American government in Afghanistan, he says, "will not honour" any country of the region. The Northern Alliance's seizing Kabul does not mean taking control of the whole Afghan territory and putting an end to the armed fight. The Afghan nation, Hekmatiyar said, "resents the control and government of those who came to power with the support of foreign tanks."