'One woman' in interim Afghan government

Afghanistan's interim administration will include one woman, says the Northern Alliance.

The ethnic Pashtuns will be in the majority, the Northern Alliance foreign minister says.

Dr Abdullah Abdullah says the head of the new administration is likely to be either Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai or Abdul Sattar Sirat. Sirat is a close aide to exiled former king Mohammad Zaher Shah.

There will be 29 members, including five vice presidents.

The new administration will recognise Afghanistan's diverse ethnic make-up with ethnic Pashtuns as the majority representing 38% of the population, Tajiks, 27% of the population, Hazaras 17% and Uzbeks six per cent.

This breakdown "is according to the statistics that we have," Abdullah said.

The alliance president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has already said he is willing to transfer power to the new administration.

It is not clear when the interim government will take power in Kabul, although it is thought that it could be as early as next week.

However, there are still some serious issues to be resolved, such as the allocation of ministries. Abdullah said that "for practical reasons" the Northern Alliance and specifically Rabbani's Jamiat-e-Islami party could retain control of the key ministries of defence, interior and foreign.

That could cause problems among other groups within the alliance, as well as those within the new administration, representing exiled Afghans, and the former monarch.