Afghans sign historic power-sharing deal

5 Dec, 2001 08:41 PM6 mins to read

BONN, Germany - Afghan rivals have signed an accord to form a post-Taleban government hoping to rebuild their devastated country with billions of dollars in international aid after two decades of war.

The deal, reached before dawn on the ninth day of gruelling talks, creates an interim administration in which the militarily dominant Northern Alliance shares power with exile groups. It takes power in the shattered Afghan capital on December 22.

Four delegations, representing the devoutely Muslim country's main ethnic groups, signed the deal at the secluded Petersberg hotel outside Bonn just hours before the start of a crucial Berlin aid conference.

As announced yesterday, Hamid Karzai, the ethnic Pashtun chief leading a struggle to chase the Taleban from their last stronghold in the southern city of Kandahar, will lead the interim government of the war stricken and impoverished country.

The top Bonn delegate for the Northern Alliance, which has taken much of Afghanistan from the hardline Islamic Taleban under the weight of United States air strikes, said the accord showed his coalition was serious about sharing power.

"This is proof that if the Afghans know how to fight well, they also know how to make peace," Yunis Qanuni, confirmed as interior minister, told delegates after the signing. "I hope that Afghanistan's tomorrow will be a tomorrow of national unity and peace in which the Afghans will build their common home."

Nations pledged $US600 million ($1471.30 million) in humanitarian aid in October and major Western donors in Berlin are this week expected to approve the immediate flow of funds. Officials believe the impoverished country may need up to $US10 billion over 10 years.

Signatories in Bonn were the Northern Alliance, drawn largely from the Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek minorities, and three exile factions -- the pro-king Rome group, the Pakistan-based Peshawar group and a Cyprus group of intellectuals.

All wearing dark Western suits and ties, Qanuni and leaders of the three exile groups signed the deal to applause from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other dignitaries.

The roughly 20 remaining delegates, including two women and one in traditional turban and khaki military jacket, then signed. The deal was greeted by a chorus of approval from Western leaders.

The new government includes two women, a contrast to their repression at the hands of the Taleban, who banned them from work and study and made them wear head-to-toe burqa shrouds.

Showing a changing climate after five years of the Taleban, Sima Wali, of the group supporting the former king, breached Afghan tradition to sign without her hair covered, a silk scarf around her shoulders and high heels on her feet.

Washington began bombing on October 7 to oust the Taleban and root out its "guest", Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect in September 11 attacks on the United States that killed more than 3500 people.

The deal creates an interim administration in which the Northern Alliance shares power with exile groups. It takes power in the Afghan capital this month and rules for six months.

The accord also invites the UN Security Council to mandate international peacekeepers to guarantee security in Kabul. Schroeder said Germany might consider contributing troops.

It sets out a symbolic role for former king Zahir Shah in calling a Loya Jirga, or traditional grand council, in six months to approve a more permanent government ahead of the drafting of a constitution and elections within two years.

"Of course his majesty is pleased," Zahir Shah's son-in-law General Abdul Wali told Reuters, but added he did not think the exiled monarch, 87, would return home until sometime next year.

Brahimi said he would visit the former king, in Rome since he was ousted in 1973, and fly to Kabul to thank Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani for his cooperation.

Rabbani, 61, whose government was driven from Kabul by the Taleban in 1996, came under massive international pressure as he repeatedly held up progress in Bonn with new objections.

He is still recognised by the United Nations as Afghanistan's president. But that status will lapse when the new government takes power on December 22.

"The eyes of the world will be on you and you carry a huge responsibility," Brahimi told delegates after the signing, dark rings under his eyes from long nights of negotiating.

Brahimi said the world had often ignored Afghan suffering and it was vital to maintain the support of the international community as the country rebuilds after 23 years of war.

Welcoming the accord, European Union External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, visiting Moscow, said it was a crucial first step towards getting Afghanistan back on its feet.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said his country's diplomats would soon return there for the first time in decades thanks to the landmark accord.

"A new chapter opens for the people of Afghanistan," Schroeder said, adding that the international community would throw its weight behind the nation. "We will make a real contribution so that the women and men of Afghanistan can live in freedom, dignity and with economic prospects."

Karzai, 46, is chief of the Populzai tribe around Kandahar, the Taleban's spiritual capital and last stronghold. A fluent English speaker who has lived in the United States, he was deputy foreign minister in 1992-1994.

A sort of interim prime minister, royalist Karzai is now fighting the Taleban in the Kandahar region.

The Pashtuns are Afghanistan's largest ethnic group and the basis of support for the Taleban. Karzai had backed the hardliners, but turned against them when Pakistanis and Arabs infiltrated the movement.

The Taleban apparently murdered his father in 1999.

The Northern Alliance keeps the three most powerful ministries -- Yunis Qanuni as interior minister, Mohammad Fahim at defence and Abdullah Abdullah as foreign minister.

They are all Tajiks from the Panjsher Valley, stronghold of their mentor Ahmad Shah Masood, whom Arab militants assassinated in September, and represent a new generation of Northern Alliance leaders eager to lead their country to peace.

Sima Samar, 44, will be one of five deputy chairmen and responsible for women's affairs. She is a doctor from the minority Hazara tribe who runs a health and education programme for Afghan women refugees in Pakistan.

- REUTERS

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