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Top Pashtun Deserts Talks, Afghans Split Over Power-Sharing
BONN, Nov. 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Landmark talks on Afghanistan's future were dealt a blow Friday when a prominent Pashtun delegate walked out, following a split in the Northern Alliance over selecting members for a transitional authority.
A senior Northern Alliance official said Haji Abdul Qadir, governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar and the number two man in their delegation, had quit just as delegates were finalizing plans for an interim parliament and cabinet, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"He thought Pashtuns were not well represented in the meeting," said Alliance diplomat Amanullah as the talks entered their fourth day.
Abdul Qadir was the most senior Pashtun figure in the delegation representing the powerful Northern Alliance, which is dominated by ethnic minority Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras.
"He has left. We are sorry to see him go, but the show must go on, and it does," said Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for the U.N.'s special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi.
But sources within the grouping said two of its key members, Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostam and the Shiite Hezb-i-Wahdat faction, were also unhappy with the delegation here, which is headed by the ethnic Tajik-dominated faction that now controls the capital Kabul.
In addition, delegates and diplomats said the powerful Northern Alliance had demanded a 10-day adjournment of the talks in Germany so they could consult their leaders back in Kabul, an appeal rejected by the United Nations and the other delegations.
"Talks are still continuing. We are in intensive talks and it will continue overnight. We are trying not to leave here without reaching an agreement," said Hamid Sidiq from the team representing former king Mohammed Zahir Shah.
Western diplomats monitoring the talks also insisted they had not stalled, despite signs of a widening split in the Northern Alliance - illustrated by Qadir's walkout.
"There is no stalling. The talks will continue," a western diplomat close to the negotiations told AFP. He revealed that the Northern Alliance's list of names for a parliament-style interim supreme council had been sent back to Kabul for approval.
"The atmosphere is good," he said after returning from the secluded and heavily guarded talks venue at the Petersberg hilltop German government residence near Bonn.
A U.N. insider also said the United Nations had also turned down the request for a delay: "The United Nations has told them to call Kabul but things have to be resolved here in Bonn," said the source, who asked not to be named.
Hopes of an agreement were boosted on Thursday when the Northern Alliance - the largest delegation - relaxed its earlier opposition to an international peacekeeping force being sent to Afghanistan.
However, U.N. officials overseeing the talks warned that several sticking points remained, including the make-up of an interim government and the future role of the country's former king, Zahir Shah, BBC's online news service reported.
Fawzi said that what was being proposed was the creation of an executive body of about 15 to 25 people, with a larger council of up to 200 people given a semi-legislative or parliamentary role.
Officials said Friday the four groups at the talks were finalizing lists of members of the parliamentary-style supreme council and the cabinet-style interim administration - part of a U.N. blueprint to steer Afghanistan out of decades of war.
The two institutions are designed to pave the way for a Loya Jirga, or traditional "grand assembly" of tribal elders, to be held in March or April next year, that would in turn lay the groundwork for a broad-based government.
The difficulties came as the four rival Afghan groups entered the crucial phase of finalizing lists of names for a 120-200 member parliamentary-style supreme council.
Another interim body - a 15-20 member cabinet-style interim administration - has yet to be discussed. Hammering out the composition of this body means tackling who gets key cabinet portfolios such as defense and interior, as well as who heads the new government.
But Sidiq said the four groups at the talks were still on track to agreeing a historic power-sharing deal. "Discussions are going on, it is very positive," he asserted.
The talks here were expected to go late into the night and diplomats said a final Northern Alliance list for the council was not expected before early Saturday, dampening earlier U.N. hopes that a full agreement "of principle" could be reached Friday night.
Among the monarchists' demands is that the former king becomes Afghanistan's new head-of-state and head of the supreme council.
On Thursday, the Northern Alliance's delegation head, Yunus Qanooni, acknowledged the importance of the ex-king as a unifying force, but he said the talks had also yet to touch on his possible role.
"The role of the former king has not been discussed yet," he said. "There is no agreement yet on the role of the former king."
The ex-king is also seen as important for winning over the majority ethnic Pashtuns in the south.
One key agenda item - how security is to be maintained - appeared to be inching towards some kind of compromise between the Northern Alliance and other groups who want to see a multinational security force put in place.
A multinational force had been presented by the United Nations as the most viable option, but diplomats said one possibility now under consideration was the deployment of a small, 2,000-strong force for the capital Kabul.
United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington that using Afghan forces was the preferred option for stabilizing Afghanistan, adding that the Afghans, not the United States, would determine any use of international peacekeepers.
"Your first choice is to have a stable situation created by people who live there because anything other than that is unnatural, is abnormal, out of the order of things, and it becomes a target," Rumsfeld said.
The Northern Alliance marched into Kabul on November 13, ignoring warnings from other Afghan groups and the United States not to do so and raising fears that the grouping would continue to assert its dominance through its powerful network of commanders and battle-hardened fighters.
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