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- Afghan Cauldron
Bonn meet reaches climax
Rival Afghan groups were locked in talks in the early hours of Wednesday on naming the country`s new leadership, with diplomats and delegates expecting an historic final deal to be struck and signed later in the day.
Rival Afghan groups were locked in talks in the early hours of Wednesday on naming the country`s new leadership, with diplomats and delegates expecting an historic final deal to be struck and signed later in the day.
After agreeing to adopt a United Nations-proposed framework for a post-Taliban interim government, the four Afghan delegations meeting in Germany were deciding how power will be shared out.
"We hope, if all goes well, to have a signing ceremony tomorrow," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said on Tuesday.
If the delegates can endorse the 29 members of a proposed interim cabinet, Afghanistan will be put on a two- to three-year programme which the UN hopes will lead to democratically-elected government. The four Afghan groups have been negotiating in a secluded German government guest house near Bonn since November 27, and the first major breakthrough of the talks came in the early hours of Tuesday when they approved a seven-page document which spells out the shape of a transitional government.
The accord provides for the deployment of an international security force in Kabul and its surroundings, and a symbolic role for the exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, as well as an interim cabinet, a supreme court and special commission to convene a Loya Jirga, or assembly of traditional elders.
The interim cabinet is to have a term of six months and the final aim of the accord is general elections and "a broad-based, gender-sensitive, multi-ethnic and fully representative government."
Strongly tipped to head the interim administration is the ethnic Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai, proposed by Zahir Shah`s delegates and approved of by the powerful Northern Alliance. For its part, the Northern Alliance is demanding to hold onto the powerful defence, interior and foreign ministries. The group`s foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said in Kabul that one of five posts of deputy leader will go to a woman.
The groups have decided to attribute the posts on a weighted quota system, and Fawzi clearly indicated that ethnic considerations as well as professional competence and moral integrity were the criteria for assigning jobs.
"The most important thing we`re trying to achieve is ethnic balance," he said. The Alliance is dominated by minority ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, while Afghanistan`s rulers have traditionally come from the Pashtun majority.
A conclusion to the talks has been repeatedly delayed because of divisions in the Northern Alliance camp over its nominations.
After days of digging in his heels over a deal, the Northern Alliance`s old-guard president Burhanuddin Rabbani finally agreed to rubber-stamp his camp`s nominations and effectively sign away his status as titular head of state, but it is still not clear when and how this will take place.
There was also no immediate indication whether Rabbani would play any role in the new administration, but the UN has appealed to him to cooperate and allow a successful completion of the Afghan power-sharing talks. Fawzi said the United Nations would consult with Rabbani in choosing a date for his transfer of power to the interim administration.
Northern Alliance officials say that Rabbani, a symbolic leader, was also reined in by the group`s powerful new generation: the Alliance`s defence chief Qasim Fahim, public face Abdullah Abdullah and political officer and chief negotiator Yunus Qanooni.
Ahmad Wali Masood, brother of the assassinated Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Masood, also said he expected the four Afghan groups to agree overnight Tuesday on the composition of the government.
Bureau Report
"We hope, if all goes well, to have a signing ceremony tomorrow," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said on Tuesday.
If the delegates can endorse the 29 members of a proposed interim cabinet, Afghanistan will be put on a two- to three-year programme which the UN hopes will lead to democratically-elected government. The four Afghan groups have been negotiating in a secluded German government guest house near Bonn since November 27, and the first major breakthrough of the talks came in the early hours of Tuesday when they approved a seven-page document which spells out the shape of a transitional government.
The accord provides for the deployment of an international security force in Kabul and its surroundings, and a symbolic role for the exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, as well as an interim cabinet, a supreme court and special commission to convene a Loya Jirga, or assembly of traditional elders.
The interim cabinet is to have a term of six months and the final aim of the accord is general elections and "a broad-based, gender-sensitive, multi-ethnic and fully representative government."
Strongly tipped to head the interim administration is the ethnic Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai, proposed by Zahir Shah`s delegates and approved of by the powerful Northern Alliance. For its part, the Northern Alliance is demanding to hold onto the powerful defence, interior and foreign ministries. The group`s foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, said in Kabul that one of five posts of deputy leader will go to a woman.
The groups have decided to attribute the posts on a weighted quota system, and Fawzi clearly indicated that ethnic considerations as well as professional competence and moral integrity were the criteria for assigning jobs.
"The most important thing we`re trying to achieve is ethnic balance," he said. The Alliance is dominated by minority ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras, while Afghanistan`s rulers have traditionally come from the Pashtun majority.
A conclusion to the talks has been repeatedly delayed because of divisions in the Northern Alliance camp over its nominations.
After days of digging in his heels over a deal, the Northern Alliance`s old-guard president Burhanuddin Rabbani finally agreed to rubber-stamp his camp`s nominations and effectively sign away his status as titular head of state, but it is still not clear when and how this will take place.
There was also no immediate indication whether Rabbani would play any role in the new administration, but the UN has appealed to him to cooperate and allow a successful completion of the Afghan power-sharing talks. Fawzi said the United Nations would consult with Rabbani in choosing a date for his transfer of power to the interim administration.
Northern Alliance officials say that Rabbani, a symbolic leader, was also reined in by the group`s powerful new generation: the Alliance`s defence chief Qasim Fahim, public face Abdullah Abdullah and political officer and chief negotiator Yunus Qanooni.
Ahmad Wali Masood, brother of the assassinated Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Masood, also said he expected the four Afghan groups to agree overnight Tuesday on the composition of the government.
Bureau Report