The war in Afghanistan may be internationalised, but when Afghan delegates get down to talks in Bonn on Tuesday they will be alone with UN officials keen to see any political deal untainted by allegations of foreign imposition.
The 28 delegates are under pressure to come up with a transitional government and an agreement on a security force for the country as soon as possible to stop the political vacuum left by the Taliban's collapse sending the country back into anarchy.
The 25 men and three women are divided among four groups. The two main groups are the Northern Alliance and the entourage of the ex-king of Afghanistan Mohammed Zahir Shah, which each have 11 delegates.
The 28 delegates have a total of 30 advisors who are not allowed to take a direct part in the talks.
The conference is scheduled to open at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) with an inaugural session at which the United Nations, which is sponsoring the gathering, has asked German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to speak for the host government.
Another 18 countries which have asked to be present as observers, plus the European Union, will have diplomats present at the opening, although only the delegates and UN officials will be present for the discussions themselves.
The UN is represented by the Algerian former ddiplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, the special representative of Secretary General Kofi Annan.
After opening speeches, the conference will adjourn for a few minutes to allow journalists to leave the Petersberg hotel where the conference is being held, and then go into a plenary session.
After that session, the delegates will return to their four groups and the negotiations will formally begin in absolute privacy.
Brahimi and his deputy, Francesc Vendrell, from Spain, will shuttle between the groups to try to find agreement. Once a consensus is reached, the delegates will then hold a new plenary session.
No time limit has been set for the duration of the talks, but UN officials have made it clear that they want things to move to a conclusion rapidly. "Time is of the essence," Brahimi's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Monday.
The talks will have two goals: to agree on the composition and duration of an interim government and on the wider issue of security, likely to be the task of a multinational force.
That stage would pave the way for a Loya Jirga, or traditional grand assembly of elders, which would eventually take further major decisions, such as the shape of a new constitution.
(China Daily November 27, 2001)
