Military

DATE=11/29/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-283658

TITLE=AFGHAN CONFERENCE (L)

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=KOENIGSWINTER, GERMANY

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Talks in Germany on a future Afghan government have picked up speed as negotiators from the militarily dominant Northern Alliance and a group representing Afghanistan's former king try to lock in details of a deal to set up an interim parliament for the war-torn country. V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison reports such a body would govern Afghanistan for a three-to-six month period until a grand assembly of tribal leaders is convened to give shape to a transitional authority.

TEXT: Foreign diplomats observing the talks at a mountaintop hotel near Bonn say the Northern Alliance and the delegation representing former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah have agreed on a formula for what they are calling an interim council to govern Afghanistan.

Advisers to two of the four groups represented at the talks say all of the delegations have agreed to the formation of such a council. But there are still no details available on its composition or on whether its members would represent Afghanistan's 28 provinces or its many different ethnic groups.

A United Nations official says the delegations are still trying to hammer out such details.

The United Nations, which is sponsoring the talks, also wants the delegations to agree to an interim administration, or cabinet, that would handle day-to-day affairs until the grand tribal assembly is convened. But there has been no progress on that issue, which is subject to haggling between the delegations over which group gets which job.

Also dividing the delegations are such issues as what role the former king will play in the reconciliation process and whether the Northern Alliance will accept a U-N proposal for a multinational military force to guarantee security for such things as aid deliveries.

The Northern Alliance said Wednesday it would accept such a force if it were part of a comprehensive peace settlement. Fatima Gailani, an adviser to the so-called Peshawar delegation of exiled ethnic Pashtun tribal chiefs, says the multinational force, which the other three delegations insisted upon, is no longer an issue.

/// GAILANI ACT ///

We had some problem that the Northern Alliance didn't agree (to accept a multinational force). But today we had the good news that they did agree. So one big obstacle is out of our way.

/// END ACT ///

The Northern Alliance has also said it would be willing to accept a role for the ex-king in a post-Taleban Afghanistan, if the assembly of tribal chiefs agrees to such a role.

Despite these signs of compromise and flexibility, the hard bargaining involved in negotiating the details of a power-sharing formula could still shatter the optimism. U-N spokesman Ahmad Fawzi cautions against excessive expectations.

/// FAWZI ACT ///

These talks are not going to be easy. As someone said today, one grain of sand can stop the machine.

/// END ACT ///

The U-N is trying to play down any hopes that the talks in Germany will reach a comprehensive accord and says it would be satisfied by step-to-step progress toward a stable political arrangement in Afghanistan. (Signed)

NEB/RW/KL