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CNN Live Saturday

No Agreement Yet Reached in Bonn, Germany

Aired December 01, 2001 - 15:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: No deal yet in Bonn, Germany. That's where representatives of Afghanistan's various factions are sitting down and trying to hammer out a new government.

Our Jim Bittermann is also there, and he's keeping track of all of it for us. Jim, hello.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, those delegations are sitting around the table tonight. They've been at it for about a half-hour so far this evenings session. We now have got a pretty good idea of what kind of shape this agreement for a new government is going to take. Apparently, they are talking about an interim administration of about 20 - 30 people, would be something like a government that would take hold in Afghanistan.

They have apparently rejected or at least delayed instituting the idea of a bigger council, legislative type council of several hundred people. That is not apparently on the table.

This interim administration would be in place for three to six months, it depends on who you're being briefed by, by somewhere between three to six months, at which time they would then have this famous Loya Jerga, which is the Afghan traditional tribal way of selecting leaders. And a commission would be established in any agreement that's signed here to -- that would take charge of establishing that Loya Jerga three or six months down the line.

On the question of security, it's felt that all the delegations now agree that the agreement should have some kind of a request for a multi-national force to come into Afghanistan, into Kabul particularly, but perhaps other regions of Afghanistan, and provide security.

And on the question of the role for the king, it's still not clear exactly what role he's going to have, but apparently all delegations do agree that the king should have some role.

Now, all this comes a day after President Rabbani, the former president of Afghanistan and the head of the Northern Alliance, had rejected pretty much everything that's going on here. Somewhere overnight he changed his mind, and I asked the U.S. observer at these talks, James Dobbins, exactly what it was that changed Mr. Rabbani's mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES DOBBINS, U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: First of all, I think that President Rabbani heard from members of his own coalition. Secondly, I think he heard from interested governments and governments that had long been very friendly and supportive of the Northern Alliance.

And thirdly, I suspect that there's some impact from Afghan public opinion in that insofar as one can tell, really wants a positive result from this conference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BITTERMANN: Among those countries who apparently called Mr. Rabbani to do perhaps a little arm twisting were Britain, German, Russia, Iran, the United States and the United Nations in the form of Lakhdar Brahimi, who is the moderator for these talks. He had an hour long conversation with Mr. Rabbani yesterday, hoping to persuade him not to be an obstacle to what's going on here. And apparently all were successful.

So, the delegates here will be meeting long into the night tonight. The United Nations tells us that they hope that there'll be some kind of an agreement on the table tomorrow morning in the way of a structure for the new government.

They still, though, haven't tackled what will probably be the most problematic area, and that is choosing who gets what job; to decide what personnel is going to be in what post in this new government, and who's going to be boss. Leon?

HARRIS: Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any real easy or clear- cut answers for any of these, which would explain why they're having so much discussion right now.

Let me ask you about something I did not hear you mention here, and it's something we've been talking about here in the studio: has there been any talk at all about women and women's rights in Afghanistan there in these meetings? We know that issue has gotten a lot of attention here in the states.

BITTERMANN: Absolutely, and I think there are, there has been some talk. To what degree it really has taken hold is another question. There are three women delegates around the table of the 30 or some 28 delegates around the table, there are three women delegates. What kind of influence they have in the conversations, we really don't know.

On Thursday here there were a number of women's organizations that came to Bonn to make sure that their voices were heard, and they did, at least some of those women, went up the hill to Petersburg, where the delegations are meeting, to make points with the delegates about how important it is to consider women's rights.

We hard the other day as well that in the king's delegation, the woman that's in the king's delegation said that she was there in part to make sure that there are women in this new administrative structure. We'll just have to wait and see, until we see the names, if that's indeed going to be the case. Leon.

HARRIS: And that would be a novelty there, I'm sure.

Let me ask you, finally, about a timetable: has there been a deadline established to make sure that something gets settled and this doesn't just drag on forever, as we have seen certain events with the U.N. do in the past?

BITTERMANN: Well, I think that everybody feels some pressure to get on with things. There was -- I guess the biggest thing that we're waiting to see here is if they will really name names here; if they will get to the point where they say that someone will be the equivalent of the Minister of the Interior or the Minister of Defense, and the Prime Minister, where they actually put those names against the jobs.

And that of course, I think, as I had mentioned before, is going to be a complicated business. Some people here say this could go on for another two or three days. I personally think that they're going to have the structure worked out, probably by tomorrow. That name thing could be a real hang-up, though. And also with the Northern Alliance, particularly, they're going to have to take those names back to Kabul and get approval from Kabul.

The other delegations really don't have anybody to take the names back to with the exception of the king's delegation, and then that's only one person to give a call to sort of check things with the king back in Rome. So, it could drag on for a little while yet, but I think everybody feels the pressure and the need to get things done here. If it doesn't happen here, it probably won't happen now. Leon.

HARRIS: Good deal. Thanks for getting it done for us, Jim. Jim Bittermann reporting live from Bonn, Germany. We appreciate it.

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