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| Afghanistan |
| Royalist envoys meet with Paks |
| 2001-10-15 |
Special envoys from former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah Monday began talks with Pakistani leaders on any post-Taliban scenario in Afghanistan. A Pakistani foreign ministry official said former Afghan foreign minister Hedayat Amin Arsala was leading the delegation, which is also understood to include Haji Abdul Khaleq Farahi and Rahim Sherzoy. He said the former king's envoys had started talks with Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar and were scheduled to meet President Pervez Musharraf later in the afternoon. The discussions come hours before the arrival here of US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell will meet Musharraf to discuss the US-led military action against the Taliban militia and alleged terrorists based in Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan's tense relations with nuclear rival India. Details of Powell's itinerary have been kept secret amid fears of reprisals for US air strikes against the Taliban, now in their second week. Powell is also expected to visit New Delhi en route to the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum in Shanghai. Zahir Shah's delegation left Rome on Saturday night carrying a message to the Pakistani leader from the former king who has lived in Italy since his ouster in a coup in 1973. Musharraf earlier this month invited Zahir Shah to send a mission to discuss a post-Taliban Afghanistan should the ruling militia be toppled by the current US-led military strikes. But royal family sources said the visit had upset the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance which blames Pakistan for supporting the Taliban since its emergence in 1994. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |