Afghan Leaders To Take Part In UN Conference

A conference on Afghanistan under the aegis of the UN is to be held in Koenigswinter, a suburb of Bonn. Eighteen Afghan leaders are to participate in the meeting. The influential Pakistani paper The News has reported, with reference to diplomatic sources, that the conference will be held in the Petersberg hotel in Koenigswinter. According to the paper's information, the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance is going to send seven representatives. The same number of delegates will represent the so-called Rome Process, which unites the followers of ex-king Mohammad Zahir Shah. Two representatives will attend from both the Peshawar emigrant group staying in Pakistan and the Cyprus peace process, which is based in Nicosia. Taliban representatives have not been invited to the conference in Germany. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Khan told journalists during a Wednesday briefing that no invitations had been issued to countries neighbouring on Afghanistan, while neither the USA nor Russia would participate in the conference. According to him, the meeting, which has been called to determine Afghanistan's political future, will feature the participation of Afghans alone. Interestingly, Afghan women will attend the conference. They were completely deprived of any voting rights under the Taliban's rule.