UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6: The United Nations Security Council has welcomed the landmark power-sharing accord reached among Afghan factions in Bonn and asked them to implement the agreement in good faith.

In a statement issued on late Wednesday, the 15-member Security Council declared “its readiness to support the implementation of the agreement.”

The new agreement would also remove Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani from Afghanistan’s seat at the United Nations. Rabbani, who is in Kabul, repeatedly delayed progress at the conference.

Meanwhile, France and Britain introduced a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday that would endorse the accord but would hold off on a peacekeeping force until the United States agrees to one.

The resolution draft endorses the “agreement on provisional arrangements in Afghanistan, pending the establishment of permanent government institutions.”

A second resolution actually authorizing a multinational force, which would be mandated but not organized by the United Nations, would have to wait until council members persuade the United States military to accept one.

The UN officials, however, want the force to be deployed before the end of December. The Western diplomats and the US officials are working on a troop plan, with one option to liaise the force with Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance.

The UN officials hope that the multinational force could be selected and put in place before Dec 22 when the interim administration takes over in Kabul.