Afghan President Rabbani States That He Is Not Clinging To Power

President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani has proposed to Pakistan to "open a new page of friendship and forget all the previous offences," the Online news agency reports. Mr. Rabbani also said that he would take part in the upcoming meeting of Afghan leaders in Bonn, on which they will discuss, who will become the head of the Afghan state. Mr. Rabbani stressed that he was not clinging to power. Meantime, Abdul Qadir, the new governor of the Nangarhar province, who is appointed by the leadership of the Eastern Shura (a body comprising leaders of the three eastern provinces of Afghanistan), has come to Islamabad for talks with the Pakistani authorities. Mr. Qadir's visit to Islamabad may become first in the series of contacts between the Pakistani leadership and the Northern Alliance, the source says.