Front Page
Bonn delegates discuss seat distribution
KOENIGSWINTER (Germany), DEC. 4. Talks on Afghanistan's future hit the final stretch today as Afghan factions and U.N. mediators turned to filling seats on an interim administration.
Work on distributing ministerial posts began hours after all four factions agreed on a U.N.-drafted framework creating a 29-member interim governing body and allowing the deployment of an international security force.
Strong U.S. pressure on the Northern Alliance broke an impasse earlier in the day, with the Alliance finally presenting its candidates for the interim administration - the missing link in the talks, now in their eighth day.
U.N. mediators grappled with a total of about 150 names submitted by the Northern Alliance, a delegation loyal to the exiled former Afghan king and two smaller exile groups.
But after the jubilant celebration of the political agreement, rivalries reportedly resurfaced in the Alliance, the fractious coalition of seven armed factions that has captured Kabul and much of the country from the Taliban with U.S. military backing.
The Northern Alliance has suggested four names as possible head of the Executive Council, the first step toward restoring order after 23 years of war and civil strife.
They include Mr. Hamid Karzai, a leading anti-Taliban commander; Mr. Sibgatullah Mujadeddi, who briefly was transitional President in 1992, and Mr. Syed Ahmed Gailani, a prominent Afghan spiritual leader and supporter of the former king.
- AP, AFP
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
