Afghan king concerned that northern alliance unwilling to negotiate provisional government

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer

ROME – Aides to Afghanistan's former king expressed concern Friday that the northern alliance appeared unwilling to participate in a U.N.-backed meeting to plan a postwar transitional government, and suggested it may not take place in the near term.

Ex-King Mohammad Zaher Shah, who is seen as having a key role in helping to determine a post-Taliban government, has agreed to send a delegation to take part in the meeting, which the U.N. envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, had hoped would take place next week.

But a senior U.S. official said Thursday that the U.S. government was uncertain of the alliance's participation and hadn't found a leader to represent the Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

An adviser to Zaher Shah, Yusuf Nuristani, said Friday that the king had received similar information from forces in Afghanistan saying the northern alliance had not committed to send representatives to a meeting. No time and place have been set.

"It looks more unlikely that it will take place," Nuristani said.

"That's a source of concern to every Afghan, if they are not willing to sit together," he said. "The good thing is that the Afghans should sit together and agree on a broad-based government, which most Afghan people want. This is the wish of the international community."

The United States and the king's advisers have already expressed dismay that the alliance defied a promise not to enter the capital, Kabul. Alliance officials have said they had no choice but to move in and fill a power vacuum after the Taliban fled Kabul on Tuesday.

Ravan Farhadi, the representative of ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose faction dominates the northern alliance, told the U.N. General Assembly this week that the alliance had no intention of monopolizing power and remained committed to an Oct. 1 agreement with Zaher Shah to convene an emergency grand national assembly of tribal groups, or loya jirga, to choose a multiethnic and broad-based provisional government for Afghanistan.

The Security Council has endorsed plans for an urgent meeting to plot a post-Taliban government for Afghanistan, but not even the venue has been decided.

U.S. and Italian officials had said Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates had agreed to host the meeting. But by Thursday, other venues surfaced, including Geneva, Italian officials and Nuristani said.

APNP-11-16-01 0954CST