UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15: The UN Security Council on Wednesday approved a UN plan to establish a “broad-based, multi-ethnic, and fully representative” government in Afghanistan following the fall of Taliban.

The resolution adopted with a vote of 15-0 reaffirmed that the UN should play a “central role” in supporting attempts of the Afghan people to establish a new transitional administration and government.

It also asked the council to give its full support for the efforts of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, in leading such negotiations.

Responding to the council’s action, Mr Annan told reporters that the UN now had a formal basis for moving forward. “We’ve done quite a bit of contingency planning and Mr Brahimi is doing his best to bring the parties together as quickly as we can,” he said.

“We are beginning to send our staff back into Afghanistan to continue their humanitarian and other work and to provide whatever service and assistance that we can provide. And so in the next few days you will be seeing the UN streaming back into Afghanistan to do their work.”

The council also said that the new Afghan government should respect the human rights of all Afghan people, honour the country’s international obligations, including cooperating with the global fight against terrorism and illicit drug trafficking within and from Afghanistan, and facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance and the orderly return of refugees and others forced from their homes.

The resolution also called on countries to support such an Afghan administration and government, asking them to provide urgent humanitarian assistance as well as long-term help for the social and economic reconstruction of the country.

In addressing the security concerns, the council called on all Afghan forces to refrain from “acts of reprisal, adhere strictly to their obligations under human rights and international humanitarian law,” and to ensure the safety and security of UN and humanitarian workers.

An international security force, not organized by the United Nations but approved by it, would begin with British or American troops already in the area, diplomats said.

French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine said in New York that his country would contribute to such a force, which would also help guard humanitarian workers. Other nations being considered included Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Turkey, Bangladesh and Jordan, UN officials said.

The first step, however, is to organize an all-Afghan meeting of the country’s many factions. Diplomats said that the Northern Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups, had put some preconditions on their attendance, which Brahimi rejected.

The meeting had been planned for within a week in a country in the Middle East, preferably in the Gulf, such as the United Arab Emirates.

On the political front, Brahimi’s deputy Francesc Vendrell expects to go to Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Friday, with Michael Sackett, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the region, security council members reported.

The United States and other governments have pushed the United Nations to the forefront of organizing a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan so that it would have greater global legitimacy than one imposed by Washington alone.