DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) - A team of Russian ministerial representatives flew to Kabul Sunday to meet with American and U.N. officials and work on creating a transitional post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.

The Russian delegation arrived for a stopover in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Saturday en route to Afghanistan. The delegation flew to Kabul by helicopter Sunday morning, a day later than scheduled after their flight was turned back by bad weather, a spokesman at the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Saturday that an agreement on sending the group of representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Ministry for Emergency Situations was reached by President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.

"In America, an agreement was reached that special representatives and envoys from Russia, the United States and the United Nations will start consultations in Kabul with the goal of creating a transitional government in Afghanistan," Ivanov said. "The government will include all ethnic groups, first of all, the Pashtuns," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Saturday that the delegation was going to Kabul for consultations with the Afghan leadership and representatives of various ethnic groups as well special envoys of the U.N. Secretary General, U.S. representatives and other countries of the anti-terrorist coalition in order to work out agreed positions on political structure of Afghanistan.

It is planned to work out questions on urgent shipment of humanitarian aid to the Afghan populations, the ministry said in a statement.

During his summit meeting with Bush, Putin called for a broad-based, multiethnic government to replace the Taliban, and insisted that the United Nations play a key role in forging the post-Taliban government.

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Russia to work on creating transitional government in Afghanistan

MOSCOW (AP) - Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Saturday that a Russian delegation sent to Afghanistan will work with American and U.N. officials to create a transitional post-Taliban government.

The Russian delegation arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Saturday where they met with representatives of the 201st army division based there, a spokesman at the Russian Embassy said.

The delegation took off by helicopter for Kabul later in the day, but their flight was turned back when the aircraft encountered bad weather en route to the Afghan capital, a 201st division duty officer said.

The ITAR-Tass news agency said the delegation would try to fly to Kabul on Sunday.

Ivanov said an agreement on sending a group of representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Ministry for Emergency Situations was reached by President Vladimir Putin and President George W. Bush in Washington, the Interfax news agency reported.

"In America, an agreement was reached that special representatives and envoys from Russia, the United States and the United Nations will start consultations in Kabul with the goal of creating a transitional government in Afghanistan," Ivanov said. "The government will include all ethnic groups, first of all, the Pashtuns," he said, according to Interfax.

He said, Russia has assisted and will continue to assist the northern alliance with military technical aid, "and as the situation on the front has significantly changed, the presence of our representatives in Kabul for rendering such aid is necessary."

The delegation will be accompanied to Kabul by a small military detachment to act as security, Ivanov said. He said the detail was necessary for their physical security, but "Russia does not intend to send any military contingents into Afghanistan."

But, Ivanov, the military could be used to help rebuild the Russian Embassy in Kabul.

"The embassy building has been preserved, but it has to undergo fundamental repairs," he said, according to ITAR-Tass. "The military are prepared to participate in this work."

Russia closed its embassy in Kabul in August 1992, about four months after Islamic rebels threw out the communist regime that had been backed by the Soviet Union. Those rebel groups established a government which the Taliban subsequently drove out, but the groups retook Kabul and much of the rest of Afghanistan over the past week.

The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the delegation was going to Kabul for consultations with the Afghan leadership and representatives of various ethnic groups as well special envoys of the U.N. Secretary General, U.S. representatives and other countries of the anti-terrorist coalition in order to work out agreed positions on political structure of Afghanistan.

It is planned to work out questions on urgent shipment of humanitarian aid to the Afghan populations, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia has supplied arms to the anti-Taliban fighters and it voiced strong support for the U.S.-led fight against terrorism in Afghanistan under which warplanes launched heavy bombing on Taliban positions.

During his summit meeting with Bush, Putin called for a broad-based, multiethnic government to replace the Taliban, and insisted that the United Nations play a key role in forging the post-Taliban government.

The Taliban have abandoned key cities in the past week and appear to have concentrated their control in two remaining strongholds - Kandahar in the south and Kunduz in the north.

In the 1980s, the former Soviet Union attempted to install a sympathetic government in Afghanistan but was defeated in a bloody decade-long conflict.