Afghan factions agree interim cabinet - democratic elections to follow in six months.

December 5, 2001 1:38 AM

Afghan factions agree interim cabinet - democratic elections to follow in six months. Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai takes the role of Premier; three Northern Alliance take main posts including defence; cabinet also includes two women. The international community seems willing to follow through with massive aid; this appears to be unremittingly good news.
posted by skylar (5 comments total)

Certainly it is. It’s also ten years late.
posted by raaka at 5:52 AM on December 5, 2001

Except that NPR reported that the reason they got a deal is because the delegates of the guy that's in charge of the Northern Alliance on the ground in Afghanistan now (Burhanuddin Rabbani) started ignoring him ("mutiny" is the word the reporter used) and wrote Rabbani out of the new government and wrote themselves in.

All along Rabbani was the sticking point, and not surprisingly since the guy currently in charge has the most to lose and the lease incentive to compromise. So when they get back to Afghanistan is this really going to be accepted? Is Rabbani just going to roll over and hand over power to this group of people who were making decisions way off in Germany?
posted by straight at 5:58 AM on December 5, 2001

("mutiny" is the word the reporter used)

Did the reporter also use the term "tribal elder?" I hate that word -- It's how journalists indicate that they have no idea what's going on.
posted by rschram at 7:45 AM on December 5, 2001

Good God. Bad enough that friendly fire has actually killed US troops now, but for it to have come as close as this to Karzai is frightening. Imagine negotiations starting up again if he had died.
posted by maudlin at 1:07 PM on December 5, 2001

I find it very disappointing that we've only so far been able to muster four comments in this thread - surely this is one of the most important developments in the Afghanistan situation so far? Or do MeFiers prefer talking about "smoking the terrorists out of their holes" than about forging peace?
posted by skylar at 2:25 AM on December 6, 2001