US, Russia rule out any role for Taliban

moscow: senior us and russian officials agreed in a joint statement issued here thursday that the taliban movement should play no role in a future government of afghanistan. "the sides agree that the taliban as a movement should have no place in future bodies of state power in that country," us deputy secretary of state richard armitage and russian deputy foreign minister vyacheslav trubnikov said in a joint statement following a round of consultations. at the same time, the sides said they supported the creation "of a broad-based, multi-ethnic government" in afghanistan. russia has insisted the taliban be barred from a future government in afghanistan, although washington has said that certain "moderate" members of the taliban could still join that country's new administration. russia and the us further "reiterated the central role of the un in international efforts to resolve the afghan conflict." meanwhile, russian foreign minister igor ivanov arrived in washington for talks with us secretary of state colin powell, which are intended to prepare the nov. 13-15 summit between president george w bush and russian president vladimir putin in washington and on bush's ranch in crawford, texas. over the weekend, us defense secretary donald rumsfeld is set to tackle afghanistan, nuclear arms control and other issues in talks in moscow with his russian counterpart, sergei ivanov. russia's support for the us-led military action in afghanistan has dramatically improved its relations with the us and other western countries, erasing much of the mutual mistrust and tension left over from the cold war times. putin has offered russian airspace for humanitarian flights and welcomed a us military presence in the former soviet republics in central asia that border afghanistan. moscow has also provided intelligence and promised to help arm the afghan opposition forces.