Afghans plan for 15-member council

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In what would be the first major step toward establishing a government, Afghan factions meeting in Germany this coming week will attempt to set up a 15-member council as the basis for an interim administration, a German diplomat said Saturday.

Afghanistan has been without a government since the Taliban fled the capital Nov. 13, and the U.N.-sponsored conference that opens Tuesday in Bonn will be an important test of whether the groups can set aside their rivalries and find enough common ground to establish a broad-based government.

The trick will be to include all leading parties and ethnic groups in the diverse country, while not allowing the negotiations to drag on endlessly.

"The perfect success would be that we come out of Bonn with an agreement on an executive council," said Hans-Joachim Daerr, Germany's special envoy to Afghanistan. "The executive council would then carry on the transition."

The details will have to be worked out by the Afghans, but the council is envisioned as a 15-person body that would begin taking over the functions of a government.

However, even if that happens at the Bonn conference, Daerr stress that "it's only the first step, and many more will have to follow."