American officials say that they monitor closely the ethnic composition of the Afghan security forces for any hints of ethnic tension.
In fairness, Mr Karzai is still bound to a degree of conciliation, given the ethnic fractures in Afghan society which the poll largely confirmed.
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Finally, there is the potential for a Sunni-style Awakening among the Afghan Pashtun, the ethnic group from which the Taliban generally spring.
The northern part of Baluchistan, including much of Quetta, is populated by ethnic Pashtuns and serves as a base for Afghan Taliban.
"We reaffirmed our support for the establishment of a broad-based, representative and multi-ethnic government in accordance with the wishes of the Afghan people, " French news agency AFP quoted him as saying.
K. point to a larger fear among the Americans and the Afghans who are helping to train the Afghan security forces: that under the stress of battle and without a substantial presence of American combat troops after 2014 the Afghan Army could once again fracture along ethnic lines.
Where America broadly hopes to clamp down on Islamic extremists, impose some sort of order and find a way to get its soldiers home, Pakistan, by contrast, does not want to see a strong Afghan state particularly one where ethnic groups such as Tajiks, traditionally friendly to India, tend to predominate in positions of power.
In Islamabad, Pakistan's foreign ministry repeated its insistence that any Afghan government must be representative of the country's ethnic makeup.
Indeed, the Afghan Taliban, mostly Sunnis from Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pushtuns, have condemned them understandably, since not to do so would alienate minorities and undermine their political ambitions.
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Patronage networks pervade the Afghan forces, and a crucial question is whether they can avoid splintering along ethnic and patronage lines after 2014.
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However, Brahimi acknowledged that the delegations represented only part of Afghan society and urged the new interim leadership to integrate all of the country's ethnic and religious groups and also women.
The king's arrival has been welcomed not only by fellow members of the Pushtun ethnic majority, like Mohammed Ali Jalali, of the eastern province of Paktika, but even by General Wasequllah, an ethnic Tajik and former Northern Alliance commander, who has just been named a general in the new Afghan army.
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