UN Hopes Afghan Meeting Will Name Interim Government

(Brahimi reports to Security Council) (470)

By Judy Aita

Washington File United Nations Correspondent



United Nations -- Announcing the upcoming meeting of Afghan parties,
the UN special envoy for Afghanistan said November 20 that he is
hopeful that the four groups will be able to agree on a transitional
council to run the country when they meet in Germany later this month.


"We are rather encouraged by what we've heard from the various
parties, and we hope that this will be the beginning we've been
looking for to end the conflict in Afghanistan and start building new
institutions for the country, for the Afghans ... to do that
themselves with support from the United Nations," said Lakhdar
Brahimi, the Secretary General's special representative for
Afghanistan.


Based on the talks with the major Afghan parties, because of the fast
developing situation on the ground, the UN expects the group will
first decide on "a small authority" in Kabul which will be the
provisional administration of Afghanistan, Brahimi told journalists
after a private meeting with the UN Security Council.


Attending the meeting, which is expected to begin November 26, will be
about 30 persons who represent: the Northern Alliance which is
composed of several parties or organizations that have been opposing
the Taliban; the "Rome process" built around former King Mohammed
Zahir Shah; the "Peshawar group" that formed as a result of a
convention in Peshawar a few weeks ago; and the "Cyprus group" of
refugees from both inside Afghanistan and the Diaspora, Brahimi said.


After deciding on a provisional administration, Brahimi said, the
groups would then focus on other steps in the process that had been
discussed previously: a large council of Afghan parties, a Loya Jurga
to give legitimacy to the process, and the preparation of a new
constitution that would be adopted by a second Loya Jurga.


Other issues on the agenda would be security arrangements for Kabul
and the rest of the country and a multinational force, Brahimi said.


Brahimi also said that the United Nations cannot accept the surrender
of the Taliban forces in Kunduz.


"The United Nations cannot, has no means, is not present on the
ground, and simply cannot unfortunately accede" to the appeal from
Taliban commanders that was formally conveyed to the UN by a Kunduz
religious leader and another person in Islamabad, the UN official
said.


Nevertheless, Secretary General Kofi Annan has instructed Deputy
Special Representative Francesc Vendrell "to ask the Northern Alliance
to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and
treat this question with as much humanity as possible," Brahimi said.


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Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
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