BONN, Nov 30: Talks between Afghan factions over choosing leaders to share power in an interim government stalled on Friday as splits emerged in the Northern Alliance over who should fill which positions.

The Northern Alliance demanded a 10-day adjournment of power-sharing talks, but the UN and rival groups refused, delegates and diplomats said.

Two representatives of former king Zahir Shah said the Northern Alliance’s delegation chief Yunus Qanooni had asked to return to Kabul for final consultations over who should take part in an interim parliament.

“Talks are still continuing. We are in intensive talks, and it will continue overnight. We are trying not to leave here without reaching an agreement,” Hamid Sidiq, a spokesman for the former king, said.

In Kabul Northern Alliance President Burhanuddin Rabbani was dragging his feet on proposing a list of candidates for an interim parliament and executive in an apparent split with the Alliance delegation head in Bonn, Yunis Qanuni, delegates said.

Diplomats say Rabbani may be dragging his feet because a deal on an interim government will necessarily dilute his power. The Alliance’s failure to broaden its power base when they were last in power in Kabul in 1992 led to civil war.

Another setback came when Abdul Haji Qadir, the governor of Nangarhar province, walked out in protest over what he said the low representation of Pakhtoons.

Haji Qadir flew home after “strong disagreements” emerged with his camp.

A representative for Zahir Shah, Pacha Khan Dzadran, described the Northern Alliance as the main hurdle.

“They had asked for more time, but we refused it,” said Dzadran, a tribal leader from southern Afghanistan. “They are the main problem.”

A close aide to one Alliance delegate said the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, had warned the four factions they must soon reach a deal on which promises of billions of dollars of reconstruction aid depend.

“They are getting the message that you either board the ship or are left out,” said the aide.

The other factions — the “Rome” group supporting Zahir Shah, the “Peshawar” group of Pakistan-based exiles and the Iran-backed “Cyprus” group — were apparently ready to present their candidates and reach a deal, delegates said.

Signalling strains between Kabul and Bonn, the Alliance aide said the delegation at the talks might go around Rabbani and ask provincial commanders in Afghanistan directly to propose candidates for the power-sharing bodies.

“The only clear thing is that Rabbani is not helping the process at all,” said one high-ranking Western diplomat.

A close aide to Qanuni denied there was a split with Rabbani, but admitted Kabul had not yet reported back on the lists. —Reuters/AFP