BRAHIMI RECEIVES APPLAUSE BY GERMAN CHANCELLOR SCHROEDER AND FOREIGN MINISTER FISCHER IN KOENIGSWINTER, 2001-12-05 (photo)

U.N. Afghanistan envoy Lakhdar Brahimi (C) receives applause from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (L) and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer following an official signing ceremony of an U.N. brokered Afghanistan deal at the German government guesthouse Petersberg in Koenigswinter near Bonn December 5, 2001. Afghan rivals struck a landmark accord on Wednesday to set aside two decades of war and form a post-Taliban government led by Pashtun chief Hamid Karzai to steer their shattered nation towards democracy. The U.N. brokered deal, reached before dawn on the ninth day of gruelling talks, creates a government with 30 members reflecting Afghanistan's ethnic diversity to rule for about six months until a Loya Jirga, or traditional assembly, is held. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski WR/JOH/AA