German Social-Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder attended the historic signing ceremony at the Petersberg castle that delegates and diplomats hoped it would put an end to Afghjanistans 22 years-old agony.

Earlier in the day, Ahmad Fawzi, the Egyptian spokesman for Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan had announced that the participants had agreed on names of the new administration's members.

Mr. Fawzi told journalists that the delegates had all accepted the names of 30 people put forward, but 11 of those named still needed to be contacted to confirm they would take up their appointments.

Hamid Karzai moved inside Afghanistan a month ago and positioned himself near Qandahar, the last stronghold of the defeated Taleban’s Supreme Leader Mollah Mohammad Omar, aiming at encouraging local Taleban commanders to surrender peacefully.
Welcoming the agreement, Mr. Brahimi, a former Algerian Foreign Minister who supervised the negotiations with his deputy, Mr. Francecs Vendrell, said the international community would stand by Afghanistan.

"The United Nations and the entire international community feel a tremendous sense of hope in the knowledge that agreement has been signed here in Bonn", he said, warning however that the new Afghan interim government carried a "huge responsibility" and the eyes of the world would be upon it.
Correspondents in the Afghan capital Kabol said first reaction from people there was one of joy and relief that the country would be run by a new, more liberal government.

Speaking with a satellite telephone from his base near the besieged city of Qandahar, Mr. Karzai said his main priority was to restore absolute peace and security, and to bring unity to Afghanistan.

The UN blueprint that was released says the 32 negotiators and advisers have agreed on an interim authority to rule for six months; a supreme court to be set up; a 21-member special independent commission to call the first Loya Jirga, or the traditional assembly of elders that, in turn, would elect transitional government and a multinational force to secure Kabol.

Former Afghan Monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah is expected to participate in the Loya Jirga, but it is not clear if he will open it, as some of his supporters have suggested.

His efforts to limit the powers and authority of the Alliance’s delegation at the Bonn talks not only created tensions at the talks, but cut an edge between the old and new generation in the Alliance, ending with the victory of the Qanooni-Abdollah-Fahim Troika.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran hopes that the deals reached will lead to a return of peace and stability as well as to pave the way for the participation of the Afghan people in determining their fate and end the two decades of hardships", the Foreign Ministry’s senior spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said Wednesday.

"The Iraqi-born Asefi also hailed the United Nations for helping with the deal and invited Afghan groups to use their special efforts for the establishment of lasting peace and begin the process of reconstruction at this sensitive and decisive moment", the official news agency IRNA reported

"We will have no objection to Hamid Karzai if he is appointed as the premier of the interim Afghan government by the four delegation", Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, quoted by the pro-government IRNA.

Zarif rejected reports that the Islamic Republic was intending to play the first host to Karzai in a good-will gesture, saying that Teheran had not made such a proposal "so far".

"But if Hamid Karzai is appointed as the head of the interim government, Tehran will welcome him, given the fact that he has already lived in Iran for a while", he added.

Karzai led southern-based Pashtoons in the heady days of the Afghans' fight against the former Soviet occupation and served as the deputy foreign minister in the Islamic Afghan Government between 1992 and 1994. ENDS AFQAN BONN AGREEMENT 51201