WASHINGTON, Nov 24: The United States would like the intra-Afghan talks, beginning in Germany on Tuesday, to come to a quick agreement on a broad-based administration in Kabul to finesse warlords who might be eyeing chunks of territory for themselves.

Secretary of State Colin Powell says he hopes the Bonn meeting will last only a brief period of time, a few days, and try to form a provisional arrangement, and then get it back into Afghanistan.

“I think if you do that and if it shows up back in Kabul, ready to go to work, and it reflects the major parties in the country, then we have finessed the warlords. They will have to deal with this government, because it is this government that will be supported by the international community, that will be the means by which humanitarian aid comes in, and the means by which reconstruction aid comes in. That’s a powerful incentive, to be able to link it to the rebuilding of your country, rather than sitting out in some far province trying to cling to the remnants of Taliban authority,” the secretary said in a radio interview earlier this week whose transcript has just been posted on the State Department’s website.