Brahimi visits Kabul ahead of power transition

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, went to Kabul on Tuesday for talks with leaders in the Afghan capital as an interim authority prepares to take power. "The purpose of his visit (to Kabul) is to prepare for the transition of power," UN spokesman Eric Falt told IRIN in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, from where Brahimi left for Kabul. He is due to return on Wednesday and meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf before leaving for New York. Brahimi was due to meet Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Fahim and ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani - all key members of the Northern Alliance (NA) which routed the hardline Taliban from power with help from US forces - on Tuesday to discuss the political future of Afghanistan. Abdullah will head the foreign ministry and Fahim the defence portfolio in the interim set up. The UN Security Council has urged all Afghan parties to implement the Bonn Agreement in full, which is intended as a first step towards the establishment of a broad-based, gender sensitive, multi-ethnic and fully representative government in Afghanistan. Meeting last Thursday, the Security Council also called on all Afghan parties to cooperate fully with the interim authority, which is due to take office on 22 December. Brahimi is also expected to try to meet tribal Pashtun commander Hamid Karzai, the head of the interim administration, though it was not certain the meeting could take place because of "logistic reasons", said Falt. He said the Special Representative's visit to the Afghan capital would be short. "He will then fly back to New York, where he is expected to be present at the end of the week when the Security Council discusses the possibility of setting up a Multinational Force for Afghanistan." Falt added Brahimi would return to Kabul on 22 December for the expected transfer of power to Karzai's authority. The transfer of power will lead to the creation of a 30-member government, headed by Karzai. The administration will call an emergency 'Loya Jirga', an Afghan traditional council of elders, to approve the creation of a subsequent transitional government. In two years time, Afghanistan will have its first national elections to create a formally elected government. In the interim administration the key ministries such as interior, defence and foreign affairs would be retained by members of the NA, while the finance ministry would go to Hedayat Amin Arsala, a former World Bank official, nominated by the Rome group of former king Zahir Shah, who Brahimi met before going to Kabul. Two women have been included in the new cabinet, marking the first time in more than five years that women have been represented in an Afghan government.