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Bonn Accord on Basics to Pave Way for Interim Afghan Rule
BONN, Dec. 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan took a first tentative step back to normalcy Tuesday after more than two decades of conflict when rival Afghan factions agreed in Bonn, Germany on the ground rules for a provisional interim administration.
After a week of grueling negotiations in the Bonn suburb of Koenigswinter, delegates from four rival Afghan factions agreed on a U.N.-proposed blueprint that aims to take the war-ravaged country step by step to general elections in two years' time, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We now have a final text," U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said. "At 45 minutes past midnight [2345 GMT Monday] the four Afghan groups agreed on the text submitted by the U.N. with a few last-minute, minor amendments. There was a general mood of jubilation when the meeting was adjourned."
The text that maps out the next two years for Afghanistan provides - among other things - for a six-month interim authority, a symbolic role for the ex-king, the demilitarization of Kabul and the deployment of an international security force and an 18-month transitional government followed by elections.
An internal disagreement over a cabinet list within the most powerful of the four groups, the ethnically disparate Northern Alliance - which controls most of Afghanistan - also appeared to have been resolved.
The four factions have put forward many more names than there are jobs available on the interim administration, which is set to rule until a broader-based government can be set up, reported BBC's online news service.
The next step, expected to begin immediately, will be to choose which factions get which jobs - a delicate balancing act given Afghanistan's complicated ethnic and tribal mix. This could be where some of the toughest bargaining begins, according to BBC.
Weary delegates were to meet again at mid-day for the next phase of talks. This includes drawing up a final cabinet list from the proposals submitted by the four groups -the Northern Alliance, the followers of exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah and the so-called Peshawar and Cyprus Groups.
"We now have everybody's lists," Fawzi said. "We are now considering these lists and will make a suggestion to the parties for an interim administration. We will be studying the lists tonight, and we will convene a meeting of the parties at a time to be fixed, around noon [1100 GMT Tuesday]."
Another major sticking point was cleared when, Fawzi said, the four groups agreed to a U.N.-mandated force, "in whatever form it might take," to maintain security in Kabul and its surrounding areas.
The Northern Alliance, which holds most of the military power in Afghanistan, was originally opposed to such a force, while the other groups insisted it was necessary.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday in Bucharest that there is no decision yet on the make-up of the peacekeeping unit, reported AFP.
"We have not come to a conclusion yet, within the U.S. or within the U.N., about what is going to be needed in Afghanistan," he told reporters on the first leg of an 11-country tour of Europe and Central Asia.
"Until the provisional government is in place, there is not a body in position to ask for international forces to come in, and the U.N. has not asked for international forces yet," he said.
The first phase of an interim authority will be headed by a 29-member cabinet-style administration, presided over by a chairman and including five deputies and 23 other members, according to the U.N. text.
Within a month of the new authority taking power, a 21-member "special independent commission for the convening of an 'Emergency Loya Jirga'" - a traditional grand assembly of elders - will be formed.
The Loya Jirga, presided by 87-year-old Zahir Shah, will meet within six months to decide on a transitional government to rule Afghanistan for a further 18 months. A "Constitutional Loya Jirga" will follow to decide the shape of a new basic law for the country under which general elections will be held.
There is agreement that the interim authority agreed Tuesday would be led by a royalist, with the other cabinet seats going to the other groups in proportion to the power they wield.
The Northern Alliance has said it wants the foreign affairs, defense and interior portfolios, currently held by Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Qasim Fehim and Yunus Qanooni, who heads the Alliance delegation to the conference, respectively.
The three form an informal governing triumvirate of the Alliance, whose nominal leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani, is expected to hand over power to whoever emerges as chairman of the temporary authority.
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