Powell: U.S. will open post in Kabul

BRUSSELS -- The United States will take a first step toward diplomatic recognition of the interim government in Afghanistan by soon opening a liaison office in the capital, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday.

The new coalition administration will need a fast infusion of cash, and Powell promised an unspecified amount of State Department funds. He also said he will engage in some "collection plate nagging" among NATO colleagues in Brussels this week, but did not put a price tag on the effort.

"We will be establishing a presence in Kabul," it is hoped, by the middle of the month, Powell told reporters traveling with him from Turkey. He said he would send diplomatic troubleshooter James Dobbins, the U.S. envoy to Central Asia, to open the liaison office.

President Bush said the formation of an interim Afghan government showed that the United States was making progress both on the military and political fronts. He also cited its inclusion of women as a positive change.

Powell said that "for the foreseeable future" the U.S. military will remain in Afghanistan until it has completed its mission.

Eventually, he said, the United States will pass off the military role to "a coalition of the willing," which another country would lead.

Details of a peacekeeping force have not been worked out, Powell said, but he told Turkish leaders in Ankara that their troops probably would play a major role.

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