A final agreement on Afghanistan's political future has been delayed because rival groups proposed a series of amendments to the seven-page draft agreement drawn up by the United Nations sunday according to ABC reports Monday. A United Nations spokesman says a deal is now unlikely to be struck in the next 24 hours.
The spokesman says there was constructive discussion on possible changes to the UN-sponsored agreement, and those comments will be incorporated into the text.
The United Nations has drawn up a seven-page draft agreement by the four major Afghan factions attending a conference in Bonn on formation of a post-Taliban interim authority, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Sunday.
The proposed interim authority would consist of an administration, a supreme court and a special independent commission to convene a loya jirga, or traditional grand assembly, Fawzi said, adding that the administration would comprise from 20 to 30 members.
The UN was making best efforts with the factions to finalize the selection of administration members by Monday morning, he said.
Delegates from four factions, including the so-called Northern Alliance, have begun selecting members of the authority's administrative body. They had agreed to set up the administration before discussing a plan to establish an interim supreme council.
The interim authority would govern Afghanistan until loya jirga would convene, possibly in March.
Five figures, including Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, are considered leading candidates for the head of the proposed authority, conference sources said.
The Northern Alliance, a loose coalition of anti-Taliban forces, would not demand the top post if it was given such key administration posts as the interior minister, foreign minister, security minister or defense minister, another negotiation source said.
The Bonn conference is taking place in the wake of the Taliban's virtual collapse under U.S. bombing and a ground offensive launched by the Northern Alliance and anti-Taliban tribal forces.
Taking part in the Bonn conference are delegates from the Northern Alliance, those from the faction led by supporters of former King Zahir Shah, a delegation from the Peshawar group of Afghans based in Pakistan and another from a pro-Iranian Cyprus-based group of Afghan refugees.
(People's Daily December 3, 2001)
