By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Responding quickly to the situation in Afghanistan, the Security Council November 14 unanimously adopted a three-pronged resolution aimed at setting the stage for an interim government, stabilizing the security situation, and getting international humanitarian aid to the Afghan people.

First and foremost, the resolution gives strong backing to UN Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi to convene a meeting of all the Afghan parties in order to help the Afghans establish a transitional administration to replace the Taliban.

According to the approach Brahimi described to the council November 13, the participants would develop concrete steps to be followed to convene a provisional council composed of a fairly large and representative group of Afghans from all ethnic and regional communities. The provisional council would propose the composition of a transitional administration and program of action for a period that would last no more than two years.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that "the most important aspect of this resolution is that it gives a complete endorsement to the political game plan that Mr. Brahimi laid out to the Security Council."

"Acting in 24 hours time Mr. Brahimi's plan has now been given total endorsement by the Security Council and he is moving forward to convene, on an urgent basis, representatives of the various Afghan parties ... to form a provisional government," Negroponte said.

"To me it shows that the Security Council is moving quickly," the ambassador said.

In the resolution, the council said that the transitional administration and the government that would follow it should be "broad-based, multi-ethnic, and fully representative of all the Afghan people and committed to peace with Afghanistan's neighbors." The governing bodies should respect the human rights of all Afghans, meet Afghanistan's international obligations, especially in combating terrorism and illicit drug trafficking, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the return of refugees.

The council called on all Afghan forces to refrain from acts of reprisal, adhere strictly to their obligations under human rights and international humanitarian law, and ensure the safety and freedom of movement of international aid workers.

Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the UN has done "quite a bit of contingency planning" and Brahimi now is "doing his best to bring the parties together as quickly as we can."

"In the next few days you will be seeing the UN streaming back into Afghanistan to do their work," the secretary general added.

Annan said that UN staff is preparing to return to Afghanistan to continue the humanitarian programs and provide whatever other services they can. He expects Deputy Special Representative Francesc Vandrell and 17 staff members to be in the country by November 16.

Many of the United Nations' local Afghan staff had maintained operations after the international staff members were forced to leave the country. The secretary general said that the UN expects to hire more Afghan staff and he hopes the UN "will be able to recruit as many women as possible to join the ranks of the UN staff."

Under the Taliban regime Afghan women were not allowed to work in UN aid programs even if they were separated from the men.

Annan said that the UN is making interim short-term arrangements with the Northern Alliance to provide security so that aid workers can do their jobs.

Negroponte said that the security situation is still very much evolving. But he pointed out that the resolution encourages nations to support efforts to ensure the safety and security of the areas of Afghanistan no longer under Taliban control, especially Kabul, the capital, and to protect civilians, transitional authorities, and aid workers.

Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said that the resolution's significance lies in "the unanimity of the council, the very strong and very clear reiteration of principles on which political settlement in Afghanistan must be achieved and ... the recognition of the need for the Afghans themselves to agree and to respond positively."

"The commitment of the international community to reconstruction and aid to Afghanistan is something (included in the resolution) that can be a useful and very important signal to the Afghan parties," Lavrov said.

The resolution calls on nations to support the new Afghan administration through quick-impact projects, urgent humanitarian assistance, and long-term assistance for social and economic reconstruction and rehabilitation.