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World Calls for Broad-Based Afghan Government

LONDON (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The Northern Alliance's unstoppable march into Kabul prompted urgent calls around the world on Tuesday for the creation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan and greater U.N. involvement.Ignoring international pressure to stay out of the city until a deal had been struck on a post-Taliban government, leaders of the Alliance pressed forward into the capital early on Tuesday -- raising widespread concern abroad.
Britain, France, China and the world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia, were all quick to point to the dangers of a lengthy political vacuum.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said a United Nations force, with Muslim participation, was urgently needed to ensure stability and head off a danger of ethnic clashes.
``Events in Afghanistan are moving extremely fast, and we need to move faster than events..,'' he said in Istanbul.
French President Jacques Chirac, in Abu Dhabi, echoed the concern of many in the world that there should be no repeat of the chaos and civil war of the early 1990s that followed the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
``It's more urgent than ever that a (political) solution is put into effect very rapidly,'' he told reporters. ``Nothing would be worse than a transition period where there was no coordination, a situation which would not guarantee stability.''
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said: ``We are prepared to do all we can for (Afghanistan's) humanitarian and security needs and reconstruction, but the Afghan chiefs must behave responsibly and keep their troops under control.''
In Washington, President Bush declared himself ``very pleased'' with the progress of the war but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer stressed the importance of all parties in the conflict observing human rights.

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