Northern Alliance Does Not Want Former King

The Northern Alliance has offered no reaction whatsoever to a decision of Afghan religious leaders' assembly envisaging a key role in the future government for ex-king Zakhir Shah. The assembly took place in the Pakistani city of Peshavar on the border with Afghanistan. According to a source in the Afghan embassy in Dushanbe, the anti-Taliban coalition's reluctance to react indeed means that it is still seeking to exclude Taliban from the process of forming a new government. As for Zakhir Shah's involvement in this process, the diplomat said that Afghanistan's President Burhanuddin Rabbani had pronounced himself for including the ex-king in the political process on a par with other players.