What are the priorities of the new interim government?
The new coalition won’t be able to achieve anything major in the next six months. The main role will be political — to make sure the coalition does not break up or that they will not start fighting each other. Most important, Dec. 22 will be the first time in nearly 50 years that there will be a peaceful transition of power in Afghanistan — the first time that power is given to another man peacefully — so it will be a victory for the Afghan people. The interim government has to hold for six months and, in the meantime, work toward convening a loya jirga, or council. The government will not be able to do much for the next three months because the winter will come, and everything will be snowbound, and Kabul will be frozen until Mar. 10. The next phase will be chosing the loya jirga, and the third phase of transition of power will be establishing stability and having elections. Q: How achievable is this? A: We had a victory at Bonn. We [the Northern Alliance] thought we had 60% of Afg
