Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia stood firm as former king Zahir Shah prepared to meet leaders of the armed opposition and US Congressmen to plot a post-Taliban scenario Sunday.
Senior members of the Afghan opposition were expected to hold talks with the former monarch in Rome, amid fresh efforts to bring the country's warring factions together for talks on ending the civil war.
But the ruling Taliban militia -- representing the Pashtun ethnic majority and controlling most Afghan territory -- was notably absent from the guest list at Sunday's talks, prompting concerns that the talks would be fruitless.
Eleven high-ranking members of the US Congress were also due to meet Zahir Shah in Rome Sunday to mull Afghanistan's political future.
The 86-year-old has ruled out playing any formal role in a new government but admitted that he hoped to return to his country.
"I have an urge to go back to Afghanistan," Zahir Shah told Newsweek magazine in an issue due on news-stands Monday. "How can I not wish to be back in my country?"
UN special envoy to Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell told AFP that the Taliban needed to act quickly to ensure its political survival following the September 11 suicide hijackings in the United States and subsequent US threats of retaliation.
"Their behavior in the coming weeks will say something as to whether they are acceptable for the future," he said.
"Any platform [of dialogue] should be opened to other Afghans, if other Afghans emerge, so it should be as broad as possible," he added, saying there were moderates within the Taliban who should be given a chance.
"Some of these people could be included, if, in the next few weeks, the situation does not make it impossible to include any Taliban."
The ex-king dismissed the idea that the so-called Northern Alliance of ethnic minority opposition forces, controlling about 10 percent of Afghanistan, could emerge as a viable government.
"It is difficult with these small alliances to obtain a total victory in the country," he said. "We must create a broad-based alliance comprising all of the organized parties in order to form a strong and dedicated movement."
Senior opposition officials said the talks with the former king would center on the possibilities of creating a new broad-based government to replace the Taliban.
"We are ready for talks with all Afghan factions, not only the king," said Abdullah Abdullah, acting foreign minister in the opposition government.
The United States has insisted that it is not specifically aiming to bring down the Taliban but rather force the regime to hand over Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire suspected of masterminding the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.
US President George W. Bush has made it clear the US military has the Taliban in its sights as it plots its "war on terrorism".
"This war will be fought wherever terrorists hide, or run, or plan," he said in a radio address. "Some victories will be won outside of public view, in tragedies avoided and threats eliminated."
But he gave no indication as to when or how US forces would engage fire, nor did he give details of deployments that have put the US military within striking distance of Afghanistan.
Both Washington and the Taliban denied reports, carried by Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television, that three US commandos had been captured in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, seven out of eight Western aid workers on trial for allegedly preaching Christianity in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan appeared in court here Sunday with their defense lawyers.
The officials said one of the detainees, an unidentified German woman, was too ill to appear, but Taliban Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib ordered her to be brought to the court later.
Washington has requested the release of the aid workers -- two Americans, two Australians and four Germans -- who were arrested along with 16 Afghan colleagues in early August.
The Taliban is also considering bringing spying charges against a British woman journalist arrested last week for crossing into the country illegally.
"We want to ascertain whether the woman Yvonne Ridley is a journalist or she was working for some spy agency," a Taliban official was quoted as saying Sunday by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press -- KABUL (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
