WASHINGTON, Nov 17: A return to an administrative arrangement based on a weak centre with autonomous regions bound together in a federation is among the ideas now being considered as the basis for a future Afghan set-up, reports said on Saturday.

This was the pattern that existed in that country till the time Zahir Shah was replaced and sent into exile by Mohammad Daud, who then declared Afghanistan a republic and imposed strong central role. Centralized rule continued through the communist days and was retained by the Taliban.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf in statements during his visit earlier this month to New York had cautioned against carving up Afghanistan into various ethnic or tribal regions. The United States has also repeatedly underlined the importance of preserving the unity of Afghanistan.

But The Washington Post quoted Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as advocating a loose central government with very little central authority. He suggested a federation that gave a high degree of local autonomy to local tribal leaders. This view seems to be advanced on the proposition that a loose federation may now be the best way to provide a sense of participation in governance to the various competing interests.

However, the exact shape of new administration will have to wait for efforts to first succeed in reclaiming the situation that currently confronts the international community with the control gained by the Northern Alliance over Kabul and many other areas of Afghanistan.

Intensive discussions on putting together some sort of an interim coalition government continue at the United Nations among representatives of regional countries with a heavy stake in Afghanistan’s future.

The alliance has now inserted itself into diplomacy by seeking a decisive voice in government-making, and UN special envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi was reported as saying on Friday that the alliance was obstructing efforts to arrange a meeting of Afghans on the country’s future.

Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani arrived in Kabul on Saturday, and his course of action will now be closely monitored to see which way the wind blows in the next few days.

No decision has yet been possible on the venue where a meeting of Afghan leaders can take place, with both the UAE and Qatar offering to act as hosts but the Northern Alliance insisting it should be held in Kabul.

The UN would ideally like a provisional government to draft a new constitution and prepare for a Loya Jirga, or a similar mechanism that would then adopt the constitution.

Pakistan, the US and other coalition partners have previously spoken out against the Northern Alliance monopolizing power and stressed it should be a partner in a broad-based, multi-ethnic government.

Agency reports from Kabul on Saturday suggested that even within the alliance and among anti-Taliban groups, sectarian and ethnic rivalries have already broken out, with the Shia factions moving into territory in south-west Kabul and the Pakhtoon tribes in the south trying to coming to a bloodless settlement with the Taliban and cautioning the alliance against coming into Kandahar.