Middle East
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Afghan factions create interim government
By DAVID RISING
Associated Press Writer
12/5/01
INTER, Germany — Amid applause and embraces, Afghan leaders signed a pact Wednesday to create a temporary administration for their war-ravaged nation. It will be headed by a moderate Muslim and will include two women.
The choosing of an interim government to lead the post-Taliban Afghanistan for the next six months was the result of nine days of furious negotiating and enormous international pressure on the four Afghan factions meeting at a secluded luxury hotel near Bonn.
Under the pact, anti-Taliban commander Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet will take over power in Afghanistan from the triumphant northern alliance on Dec. 22. Coming to an agreement also secures billions in promised aid to reconstruct the country.
German leaders and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who shepherded the parties and won the deal, broke into applause at the signing ceremony Wednesday morning. Brahimi then embraced the delegates.
``Nowhere is the feeling of hope greater than among the people of Afghanistan, who during 23 years of tragedy and loss have maintained the hope that peace and stability could be restored one day in their country,'' he told the conference's closing session.
Afghan delegates were jubilant after completing the deal, which is aimed at ending more than two decades of war and civil strife since the 1979 Soviet invasion.
``Maybe it's not perfect,'' said Mostapha Zaher, grandson of the ex-king, whose supporters were one of the four factions. ``Under the circumstances it is something honorable, something good. I think the future of Afghanistan looks very bright.''
The agreement establishes a 30-member interim Cabinet, which is meant as the first step toward a broad-based government representing the range of Afghanistan's ethnic groups and regions. Brahimi acknowledged that the delegates meeting here represent only a part of Afghan society and urged the new interim leaders to integrate all of the country's ethnic and religious groups — including women.
Negotiating at the talks were: the alliance, representatives of former King Mohammad Zaher Shah and two smaller groups representing Afghan exiles in Cyprus and Peshawar, Pakistan.
After intense haggling over posts, the northern alliance controls more than half of the 30 ministries, including the powerful defense, foreign and interior portfolios. The delegation of Rome-based exiles loyal to the former king received at least eight ministries, including the finance, education and reconstruction posts.
Two women were named to the Cabinet: Sima Samar as a deputy premier and minister of women's affairs and Suhaila Seddiqi as health minister.
The final Cabinet list was not released, as 10 or 11 candidates had not yet been contacted to formally accept the posts, U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said. The replies were expected later Wednesday.
Younus Qanooni, the northern alliance's chief delegate, said the accord signaled his side's readiness to compromise. ``Today the Afghans have proven that, just as they were ready to die for their country, today they are ready to sacrifice and hand over power peacefully.''
Karzai is a 44-year-old tribesmen from the Taliban heartland of Kandahar who speaks fluent English, studied abroad and is currently leading a force of some 4,000 troops fighting the Islamic militia in Afghanistan.
He initially supported the creation of the Taliban in 1994 as an alternative to the lawlessness of the warlords ruling at the time. But he became disillusioned, saying the Taliban had been hijacked by neighboring Pakistan.
Karzai was acceptable to most delegates in Bonn because he is a member of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Karzai was in Pakistan. But when Islamic insurgents took power from the pro-Moscow regime in 1992, Karzai became Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister under President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Karzai later left Rabbani's government, disillusioned by the bickering between the groups.
The final stretch of negotiating took 10 hours. With ethnic balance as the primary criterion, Brahimi shuttled among the four factions through the night Tuesday to cull 30 names from 150 candidates.
The four groups had sought to achieve a balance in the interim government that represented Afghanistan's main Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara ethnic groups — and also women, who have been virtually excluded from public life under the Taliban.
Brahimi said he would go to Afghanistan early next week to begin preparations for the transfer of power from Rabbani, of the northern alliance. ``The real work starts now,'' he said.
Rabbani is still recognized as Afghan president by the United Nations and portrayed by Western diplomats as reluctant to step aside for a younger generation of leaders.
Under the U.N. plan, the interim administration will govern for six months until the former king convenes a traditional tribal council, or loya jirga. The council will then ratify a transitional government, paving the way for elections within two years.
Also envisioned are the deployment of an international security force to Kabul and other parts of the country, steps to integrate Afghan fighters into a future national army, and the creation of a supreme court.
The final text includes language saying the Afghan people have the right ``to determine their own political future in accordance with the principles of Islam, democracy, pluralism and social justice.''