Mohammed Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan, held "very fruitful" talks with opposition leaders from his country and a US congressional delegation in Rome on Sunday, a spokesman for the ex-monarch said.
Mostapha Zahir, the former king's grandson and spokesman, said the former king had invited the participants to dine with him later on Sunday, and the group were working on a possible joint statement.
"It was a very fruitful meeting, very friendly," he said.
The participants "discussed in front of the king current affairs, the problems, the possible solutions" to the crisis in Afghanistan.
The US lawmakers, who includes Californian Republican Dana Rohrabacher, vice-chairman of the House's East Asia and Pacific subcommittee, Republican Curt Weldon, chairman of the Armed Services Military Readiness subcommittee, and Solomon Ortiz, the subcommittee's top Democrat, were due to hold a news conference later on Sunday.
They had already held meetings in Moscow with Russian officials to discuss Washington's anti-terror campaign and other strategic defense issues.
The opposition figures, including members of the Northern Alliance, which is fighting a civil war against the Taliban militia that rules most of Afghanistan, had on Saturday met in congress at a Rome hotel to discuss the possible formation of a supreme council.
The United States is backing an attempt by disparate opposition groups to build a broad coalition around the popular 86-year-old ex-monarch which would form a post-Taliban government in the Central Asian country.
The planned Afghan council, which would convene under the auspices of the former king, would govern a post-Taliban Afghanistan for an interim period until democratic elections would be held, opposition sources said earlier.
The opposition figures earlier expressed confidence that the Taliban would either collapse or be ousted militarily.
Before Sunday's meeting, Afghan commanders said they intended to tell the US officials that they did not want a US military strike on their country, but rather military aid in order to oust the Taliban themselves.
Afghanistan is thought to be the likely site of US reprisal strikes in response to the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
The Afghan delegation includes Northern Alliance figures Yunis Qanuni and commander Aref Khan Nurzai, as well as commanders of independent, non-aligned groups.
The deposed king has been exiled in Rome since 1973 after he was ousted in a coup.
He has expressed a desire to return to Afghanistan, but ruled out any formal role for himself.
In an interview to be published by the US magazine Newsweek on Monday, Zahir Shah said: "I have an urge to go back to Afghanistan."
"How can I not wish to be back in my country?" -- ROME (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
