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Taliban Stands Firm as Ex-Monarch, U.S. Congress and Opposition Plot Future
ROME, Sept 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban stood firm as former Afghan king Zahir Shah met leaders of the armed opposition and U.S. congressmen in Rome to plot a post-Taliban scenario Sunday.
The United States is backing an attempt by disparate opposition groups to build a broad coalition around the popular 86-year-old ex-monarch, who would form a post-Taliban government in the Central Asian country.
The opposition, including members of the Northern Alliance - who are fighting a civil war against the ruling Taliban, met with Congressional representatives at a Roman hotel Saturday night.
The 11-member Congressional delegation was present at the start of Saturday's meeting, but left the room shortly afterwards.
However, acting foreign minister in the Afghan opposition, Abdullah Abdullah, said Sunday there had been no agreement with the country's former king for a joint military or supreme council to take over power from the ruling Taliban.
Abdullah issued the remarks from the opposition's northern stronghold at the same time that a delegation from the alliance was meeting with the former king in Rome regarding the future of Afghanistan.
Earlier Sunday, the ex-monarch said that talks in Rome had been "very fruitful" and that the group was working on a joint statement.
But Abdullah denied reports that an agreement that would see a joint Afghan council, under the auspices of the former king, had been struck.
"We discussed yesterday and we discussed today and no formal agreement has been signed so far," Abdullah said.
The former King of Afghanistan has told a delegation of U.S. Congressmen that the Taliban could still play a role in a future coalition government of the country.
"He's left the door open at some point in time that even the Taliban, if it had a role to play, could be part of some eventual coalition government," said Republican Curt Weldon, chairman of the Armed Services Military Readiness subcommittee.
The deposed king has been exiled in Rome since 1973 after he was ousted in a coup.
He has expressed a desire to return to Afghanistan, but ruled out any formal role for himself.
In an interview to be published by the U.S. magazine Newsweek Monday, Zahir Shah said, "I have an urge to go back to Afghanistan."
"How can I not wish to be back in my country?"
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Taliban have deployed thousands of fighters in their southern stronghold of Kandahar in preparation for war, Pakistani military and political officials said Sunday.
One senior military officer in this major crossing point on the Pakistan-Afghan border also said Taliban numbers at frontier posts located 100 meters away had increased from just a handful to around 300 since the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States.
Citing sources crossing the border in recent days, the official said "thousands of Arab fighters" had gathered in Kandahar - 100 kilometers inside the Afghan border - in preparation for U.S. military strikes.
Kandahar is seen as a prime target in the U.S. military strikes.
Since the days of the 1979-89 Soviet occupation, Afghanistan has lured large numbers of Arab Muslims wanting to join
jihad, or struggle, against the invaders.
The United States has insisted that it is not specifically aiming to bring down the Taliban but rather to force the regime to hand over Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire who the U.S. accuses of masterminding the attacks in New York and Washington, although no concrete evidence against him has been released.
The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan said Sunday that bin Laden remains in Afghanistan and being hidden for his own safety.
"Osama bin Laden is under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and only security people know where he is," Abdul Salam Zaeef told reporters in Islamabad.
"He is in Afghanistan in an unknown place for his safety and security," Zaeef said.
U.S. President George W. Bush has made it clear that the U.S. 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."
He gave no indication as to when or how U.S. forces would engage, nor did he give details of deployments that have put the U.S. military within striking distance of Afghanistan.
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