The four Afghan delegations meeting near Bonn yesterday signed a historic agreement that establishes a six-month interim authority and a two-year plan to return Afghanistan to democracy.
As the UN Security Council in New York began work on a resolution to deploy a UN-sponsored international force, the UN representative at the talks warned that the "real work lies ahead".
"This agreement will not be judged by the haste in which it was written but by how faithfully it will be implemented," said Mr Lakhdar Brahimi.
Under the agreement, a 30-member interim authority will take over sovereign control in Afghanistan on December 22nd with a six-month mandate. A separate 21-member commission will organise an emergency council of elders, to meet in March.
This gathering will choose a transitional administration which will have two years to prepare a constitution and prepare the country for "free and fair elections".
The interim authority is headed by Mr Hamed Karzai (43), influential leader of the southern Pashtuns, currently in combat in Kandahar.
As a religious moderate and a Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, Mr Karzai is seen as a compromise between old Afghan warlords and Rome-based exiles loyal to the former king.
As expected, the Northern Alliance has the largest representation on authority. It holds 13 seats, with the vital foreign and interior ministries retained by current Northern Alliance ministers, Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Mr Yunus Qanooni, leader of their delegation at the talks.
"The mujahideen who fought for the freedom of our country are also the heroes of the peace," said Mr Qanooni yesterday.
"Afghans know how to fight but this agreement shows that they also know how to make peace."
The Rome Group will control reconstruction and education but have yet to finalise the names of their six candidates.
The Cyprus group of exiles agreed not to be represented in the administration.
There are two women in the new administration. Social worker Dr Suhaila Seddiqi was unanimously elected Health Minister, and Dr Sima Samar, a former army general, is now Minister for Women's Affairs.
The administration "shall endeavour to reach its decisions by consensus," according to the agreement, but decisions can be taken by majority vote.
Delegates reached agreement at 6.45 a.m. yesterday and went on to sign the document shortly after 10 a.m. in the presence of Mr Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, and the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroeder.
