Alliance backs UN-led Afghan government

The Northern Alliance says it is ready to transfer power to a UN-backed transitional council.

The Alliance also says leader Burhanuddin Rabbani will not be the head of that new body. The alliance's foreign minister, Dr Abdullah, also says his group is prepared to "be flexible" on the issue of international peacekeepers in Afghanistan.

Abdullah said they will require a UN mandate that their stay in the country should be limited.

The Alliance is facing strong international pressure to break a deadlock in talks underway near Bonn on Afghanistan's political future.

Alliance delegates in Germany had been stalling on providing names of people it wants to serve in an interim administration.