U.N. Confirms Delay in Talks On Afghanistan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 24, 2001

U.N. Confirms Delay in Talks On Afghanistan

Next week's planned talks on Afghanistan's political future, originally scheduled for Monday, will be delayed until Tuesday because of logistical problems, U.N. sources said on Friday.

Next week's planned talks on Afghanistan's political future, originally scheduled for Monday, will be delayed until Tuesday because of logistical problems, U.N. sources said on Friday.

The U.N.'s special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told German officials that the organization is having difficulty bringing so many Afghan faction leaders together at the same time.

Despite the hitch, officials continued fevered preparations for the summit at Petersberg, a palace near Bonn.

Andreas Michaelis, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said he hoped that next week's discussions will enable leaders to build, as quickly as possible, a transition government for Afghanistan.

Among those attending will be representatives of the Northern Alliance and of the "Rome Group" led by supporters of former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir, who lives in exile in Rome now.

Representatives of the Afghans living in exile on the Mediterranean Island Cyprus will also take part. Another group will be representatives of Pashtuns who live now in Peshawar, Afghanistan.

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