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CNN Sunday Morning

Talks for Post-Taliban Government Scheduled to Begin Tuesday

Aired November 25, 2001 - 10:11   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's check in at the Afghan's capital city, that is Kabul. CNN's Harris Whitbeck is there with more, where there are questions being asked as to what comes next -- Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, conversation here is revolving around Afghanistan's political future. Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani gave a press conference this morning, and he explained how a 21-member delegation has been formed, a delegation of Afghan leaders that will travel to Bonn, Germany to begin a round of talks on Tuesday about the formation of a new interim government.

President Rabbani said that this delegation will be comprised of four major groups, one of them, of course, being the United Front or Northern Alliance; the other one will represent people coming from Rome, those who represent the deposed King Mohammed Zahir Shah; and then there will be people coming in from Peshawar, who will be representing the millions of Afghans, who have become refugees in the last decades of war. We understand that the group from Peshawar will be representing the interests of the Pashtun ethnic group, which, as you know, is the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and has been represented, so to speak, by the Taliban. Finally, there will be a representation of the Afghan Diaspora coming from Cyprus.

These 21 participants will be meeting for days, and they hope that they will come up with a 15-member executive council that would become Afghanistan's interim government. That council would have to be confirmed by a meeting of tribal chieftains -- the meeting that is known here as a Loya Jerga. That meeting, of course, would take place after the session in Bonn. The session in Bonn, according to the U.N., could last as long as two weeks. So we don't expect a new government in Afghanistan in the next few days -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Harris Whitbeck reporting to us, live, from Kabul this morning.

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