of Afghanistan met separately with President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan which hosted the talks, as a final act of diplomacy before winding up the five-day visit. Mohammad Younus Qanouni, head of the opposition delegation at the negotiations in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat, reiterated his optimism that the deal reached on Sunday, though thin on detail, was a major step towards ending the warfare that has devastated the country. "The agreement represents a new era in the history of Afghanistan," he told reporters in Niyazov‘s residence after a half-hour audience with the president. Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, leader of the negotiating delegation from the purist Islamic Taleban side which rules 90 percent of Afghanistan, was slightly more cautious but also said the deal represented significant progress. "We are hopeful of a lasting peace, because we both share good intentions," he said. "We hope that Id will be a peaceful one in Afghanistan this year," he added, referring to the Id-e-Qorban Moslem holiday in around two weeks‘ time. Muttawakil explained that the two sides met with Niyazov separately because they had been invited separately. Glimpses of the intense three-day negotiation process last week revealed an unprecedented willingness on the part of the rival parties to cooperate. They had bus rides, tours and prayers together as well as a joint news briefing. While the results of the talks exceeded the most optimistic predictions, the delicate task of dividing power within a shared structure could yet unravel the process. Qanouni hinted at the complexities ahead when the two sides meet again in Afghanistan, probably in a few weeks‘ time. He said that the Taleban‘s vast territorial advantage would not necessarily translate into a Taleban-dominated coalition. The Taleban movement draws its following from Pashtuns, the largest Afghan ethnic group. The opposition, whose strength comes mainly from non-Pashtun minorities, holds only about 10 percent of Afghanistan‘s territory.