UN

After two decades of war, a lot of patience will be needed to get Afghanistan's rival ethnic and political groups together to form an interim government, top U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said.

"But we are optimistic that it's going to be successful," he said Wednesday.

Brahimi, who will be chairing Monday's first U.N.-sponsored meeting of Afghan groups in Bonn, Germany, has said he recognizes the need for speed in getting a broad-based administration installed in Kabul. But he also has stressed the importance of letting the Afghans themselves decide on an interim government.

Brahimi cautioned against quick results saying "a lot of patience" is essential.

"I don't think it is going to be easy," he said Wednesday night after talks with Japan's special representative for Afghanistan, Sadako Ogata. But "the first signals we are getting are encouraging."

"We are looking forward to this conference as the first but very important step which I hope will lead to the end of conflict and the reconstruction of Afghanistan — the reconstruction first of its institutions, and then of its social fabric and its economy," Brahimi said.

Norway's vice foreign minister Vidar Helgesen, who met Brahimi Wednesday, backed an Afghan solution. "It can't be imposed on them, and that's why patience is needed."

The United Nations is prepared to stay in Bonn for a week, but more meetings might be needed, he said.

The Norwegian government is donating $500,000 to Brahimi's political efforts, Helgesen announced. Norway is a member of the powerful Security Council and on Jan. 1 it will take over the presidency of the Afghanistan Support Group, which includes over a dozen major donors to the embattled country.

Brahimi and his deputy, Francesc Vendrell, who left Kabul on Wednesday, are still working on the list of participants for Monday's meeting. Brahimi, who is expected to arrive in Bonn on Saturday, has said he expects fewer than 30 Afghan leaders to take part.

The United Nations and the United States were caught by surprise at the sudden collapse of the ruling Taliban militia earlier this month following an intensive U.S-led bombing campaign.

The takeover of large parts of the country, including Kabul, by the opposition northern alliance — which is dominated by minority Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras — has intensified pressure to find a transitional government that is much broader based and more ethnically mixed.

Diplomats said the success of next week's meeting may hinge on the participation of Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan who are mainly from the south. The Taliban is largely Pashtun, and finding credible and acceptable Pashtun representatives who are not linked to the Taliban is key, the diplomats said.

In Brahimi's scenario, the transitional administration would organize a large council, which would then arrange an initial loya jirga, or grand council of Afghan tribes, "to give legitimacy to the process." he loya jirga would prepare a new constitution that would be adopted by a second loya jirga.

Norway's Helgesen said the international community must deliver a strong message to the new interim administration in Afghanistan that it will have to respect "fundamental human rights" and women's rights.