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Speed 'of the essence' at Afghan talks

Conference venue
Security is tight at the talks venue, the Petersburg guest house at Koenigswinter  


By CNN Correspondents Ben Wedeman and Jim Bittermann

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany (CNN) -- Afghan factional leaders and United Nations representatives will meet near Bonn, Germany Tuesday to discuss the country's future and take the first steps toward building a post-Taliban government.

"We need to get a transitional authority in the country as soon as possible, and all the parties agree that this is imperative -- that speed is of the essence," said Ahmad Fawzi, a spokesman for Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief U.N. envoy for Afghanistan.

Brahimi, his top deputy, Francesc Vendrell, and the eight other U.N. delegates held bilateral meetings on the eve of the talks.

Abdullah Abdullah, the Northern Alliance foreign minister who is not among those scheduled to attend the Bonn talks, said he hopes the meeting will lead to a roadmap for the "formation of a fully represented, broad-based government."

"It is a unique moment for Afghanistan. The whole situation has changed inside Afghanistan, in the region and in the international community," Abdullah said.

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The Northern Alliance is among four Afghan groups that will attend the talks, which are scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. (4 a.m. ET).

Unlike its Taliban foes, which stripped women from positions of power, the Northern Alliance will send one female delegate. Two other women are on the list of delegates representing other factions.

The other groups include the "Rome Group," which represents former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah, 87, who has been living in Italy since a 1973 coup; the "Peshawar Group," for the millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan; and the "Cyprus Group," for an Iranian-backed group of Afghan exiles.

The Northern Alliance delegation and the Rome group will have 11 seats, with three each for the Cyprus and Peshawar groups, according to the United Nations. Another 18 countries, including the United States, and the European Union have asked to observe the talks.

'Foreign fighters'

Northern Alliance President Burhanuddin Rabbani said he hopes to secure the formation of a 12-member executive council that will return to Afghanistan for approval by a loya jirga, a traditional grand meeting of Afghan elders. The council would approve the formation of the eventual transitional government for the country.

Rabbani also said he is looking to the United Nations to address the issue of non-Afghan Taliban fighters captured in fighting with opposition forces.

Those "foreign fighters" -- mostly Chechens, Pakistanis and Uzbeks who have supported the Taliban -- will be guaranteed safety and turned over to the international body, Rabbani said.

"We would like to find a solution despite the fact that they were fighting against us. We have nothing to do with them. We forgive them. We would like to hand them over to the United Nations, and it will be up to the United Nations whether to return them to their countries or do whatever they want to do with them," Rabbani told reporters.

The Northern Alliance had previously said the non-Afghan fighters would be arrested and tried as war criminals.

New focus

In comments to CNN over the weekend, Abdullah said the current moment in history is unlike any Afghanistan has ever seen. He said there was little international attention given to his country "at the end of the Cold War and after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan," leading to bitter factional fighting.

"In the international community, there is a new focus on the situation in Afghanistan," he said. "All these factors create a unique opportunity, which all of us ... should seize."

After Tuesday's planned formal opening, the talks -- expected to last for two weeks -- will break up into a shifting series of negotiating groups to try to build a consensus, diplomats said.

Looking beyond the talks to the revival of Afghan society, about 50 Afghan intellectuals -- academics, journalists, traders, women's activists -- will meet on Thursday in Bonn for a four-day conference.



 
 
 
 


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