In a Rare Visit, U.S. Envoy Will Warn Taliban
Bill Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will travel to Afghanistan as part of a five-nation tour of South Asia that begins Friday to deliver a stern message to the Taliban militia that it will never gain wide international recognition or aid if it continues to repress women, senior Clinton administration officials said Wednesday.
Richardson, who holds Cabinet rank, will be the highest-placed U.S. official to visit Kabul since a 1978 pro-Communist coup there plunged Afghanistan into 20 years of war, which shows no sign of ending.
Richardson also will visit India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the official said, in anticipation of a South Asia trip by President Clinton expected later this year.
The Taliban, which controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan, has attracted worldwide notoriety for its brand of conservative Islam, in which women are largely prohibited from working and girls are denied education.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Afghanistan in the mid-1970s.
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