AP
October 31
zbekistan and the European Union called Wednesday for a coalition government in Afghanistan once the Taliban is defeated that would include all of the country's main ethnic groups.
Foreign Minister Louis Michel of Belgium, which holds the presidency of the E.U., reaffirmed Europe's support for the U.S. fight against terror and the ouster of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"We have to show our full solidarity with those who are fighting in the first lines and on the ground," Michel said at a press conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Michel was in the Uzbek capital heading a E.U. delegation aimed at bolstering support for the U.S.-led anti-terror efforts.
Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic, is hosting some 1,000 U.S. soldiers in support of the U.S. campaign in neighboring Afghanistan.
Michel said he regretted that some civilians had been killed in U.S. bombing attacks.
"It is always very sad ... to observe that civilians are killed in such actions," he said. "No fight is a good fight. Never. But sometimes it is necessary to fight."
Michel met Wednesday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to discuss the fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian situation.
Millions of Afghans are in danger of starving due to war and drought if food isn't rushed to the country. U.N. agencies are hoping soon to transport food from Uzbekistan across the river border it shares with Afghanistan.
Michel said that Uzbekistan and the E.U. "have the same opinion ... that Afghanistan has to have a coalition government that has representatives of every ethnic group."
A new government, Michel said, "should be a government that would concentrate its actions on rebuilding Afghanistan. The U.N. should perform a major role in forming such a government."