Afghans agree blueprint for government

Four Afghan factions have agreed on a framework for a post-Taliban administration.

They made speedy progress after the United States pressured the Northern Alliance to drop obstacles threatening to derail talks on Afghanistan’s political future.

In a night of hectic diplomacy, White House official Zalmay Khalilzad telephoned alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul, winning a promise to release a long-delayed list of candidates for the interim administration, US envoy James Dobbins said.

With the list finally on the table, delegations representing the Northern Alliance, exiles loyal to former King Mohammad Zaher Shah and two smaller exile groups, quickly finalised the text of an agreement establishing a 29-member interim governing council, United Nations spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

He said they would haggle over who would sit on the council later today. A Western diplomat said that could take another 48 hours.

The alliance, which has captured Kabul and much of the country from the Taliban with the backing of US forces, has promised to transfer power to the interim administration once it is formed.

Dobbins, who has been prodding the four-factions meeting in Bonn, Germany, to reach a workable accord that will be respected on the ground, unleashed his diplomats after he concluded that the alliance was stalling on the list of names to prevent an agreement.

For the last several days, the alliance delegation in Germany and leaders back in Kabul have been giving conflicting statements on what they would find acceptable.

One of the most serious rifts was over where the lists would be released. While the delegation kept promising to release its names on neutral territory in Germany, as sought by mediators, Rabbani insisted that be done later in Kabul.

‘‘Once again the problem is more obstacles being raised because of discomfort with the agreement as a whole,’’ Dobbins said.

Northern delegation leader Younus Qanooni consulted with Kabul before going into a meeting with the other factions where he presented the list, said Haji Ali Mirzai, an aide to alliance delegate Mohammad Natiqi.

With billions of dollars in reconstruction aid and Afghaninstan’s future stability at risk, Dobbins put the chance of success at less 50% if the alliance delegation had not kept its word to name its candidates.

‘‘You can’t keep people here forever unless there’s a sense of momentum,’’ Dobbins warned.

Dobbins singled out Rabbani, indicating the delegation appeared to want a deal, but was reluctant to proceed without his full backing. ‘‘They continue to hope that would be possible,’’ he said.

As late as Sunday, Rabbani was still presenting positions at odds with the alliance delegation, comprising seven Afghan factions united in the assault against Taliban forces with the help of US air strikes, but fraught with bitter rivalries.

Rabbani, who is recognised by the United Nations as head of state, proposed a leadership council to stand above the interim executive body presented in the UN draft, and said he wanted a role.

‘‘My name would be for the leadership council,’’ the Washington Post quoted Rabbani as saying.

But in a sign of a growing split with Kabul, a Northern Alliance advisor in Germany dismissed his statements.

‘‘Mr Rabbani can say whatever he likes. That’s not important,’’ said Asam Dadfar, an adviser to the alliance delegate Abdul Hakim.

Still, the alliance continued to stall even after its leadership in Kabul earlier announced four prominent Afghans to head the interim authority, including Hamid Karzai, a leading anti-Taliban commander, and Abdul Sattar Sirat, a close aide to exiled former king Mohammad Zaher Shah.

Also named were Sibgatullah Mujadeddi, who briefly was transitional president in 1992, and Syed Ahmed Gailani, a prominent Afghan spiritual leader and supporter of the former king.

Sirat is a close aide to the ex-king, but as an ethnic Uzbek his chances seem limited because a Pashtun is widely favoured for the post.

Karzai, on the other hand, is a Pashtun leader who returned from exile to try to persuade Afghans to support a new government. He is one of the leaders of anti-Taliban forces closing in on their last stronghold in Kandahar.

In a signal of his importance, UN mediators piped in a phone call from Karzai in Afghanistan to delegates in Germany on the conference’s opening day.

A Western diplomat said the factions had broadly agreed to the outline contained in a UN draft agreement presented on Sunday, but that details were still being discussed.

One addition, according to an Italian envoy at the talks, was a pre-amble thanking Rabbani and the resistance fighters for their service to the nation, an apparent attempt to placate the former Afghan president, whose statements have complicated the talks.

The UN plan envisions a 29-member interim executive council representing Afghanistan’s ethnic groups, regions and religions and an independent council of elders, which should be formed within a month of the interim authority, to convene a tribal gathering, or loya jirga, within six months.

With several delegations pushing for a symbolic role for the former king, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said it was suggested he should convene the emergency loya jirga.

The loya jirga would establish a transitional administration to govern for 18 months, paving the way for a democratic constitution and eventual elections.

The draft also provides for the deployment of an international security force, partly to allay safety concerns of exiles who might return to Kabul once the Northern Alliance formally transfers power.

All armed fighters would have to leave areas where the international force was deployed, according to the draft, and the factions would agree to and aid their voluntary disarmament.

But Fawzi said on Sunday that the interim administration would not be delayed for such a force to be assembled, and that one would be deployed only if requested by the Afghans.

The United States has said no international force would be deployed to areas where US forces are conducting a war aimed at rooting out terrorists blamed for the September 11 attacks in the United States, and long harboured by the Taliban.