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Afghan leader to meet exiled king

ROME, Italy -- The head of Afghanistan's interim government is due to meet the country's former ruler for talks paving the way for the exiled monarch's return.

Hamid Karzai will meet former King Mohammad Zahir Shah, who has lived in exile in Rome since 1973, in the Italian capital on Tuesday.

Karzai told reporters on his arrival in Rome that he believed an international peace force was likely to arrive in Kabul before his government takes office on Saturday.

"I can't give you a date but I believe they will," Karzai said.

His words echoed a senior U.S. official in Kabul who had said advance troops from an international peace force would arrive in Kabul in time for the government to take office.

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Zahir Shah, 87, is due to return home within months to open a Loya Jirga, or grand council, to map out the country's future as part of a U.N.-sponsored peace plan.

The ex-king is seen as a key player in trying to unite Afghans, at least symbolically.

Karzai is also expected to hold talks with other members of the king's small group of relatives and advisers, including the former monarch's son, Mir Wais Zahir.

Karzai, 46, leader of the Pashtun Popalzai tribe, was named on December 5 to head the interim administration that will rule Afghanistan for six months and prepare the way for a transitional government that will take power for the following two years.

He was nominated for the interim post by the so-called Rome group and benefited from being a member of the dominant ethnic Pashtun group that many felt were not fully represented at the Bonn conference that brought together representatives of most of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban political players.

The details of the proposed multi-national peace force's make-up have yet to be announced, but British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday that Britain would contribute up to 1,500 troops to the peace force and was prepared in principle to lead it.

The force, to guard the peace in the capital city Kabul and possibly other locations, was a key part of the peace deal signed in Germany which paved the way for the new post-Taliban interim administration to take power.

Since then, the Northern Alliance, which now controls the capital, has said it wants to see no more than 1,000 foreign troops with a tightly defined mandate, mainly to guard government meetings.

But countries expected to contribute troops have discussed a much larger force with a more robust mission.

Blair told the House of Commons that several nations had indicated they were willing to contribute troops, including a number of EU countries, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Jordan and New Zealand.

U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan James Dobbins said that parts of the security force should be in place by the time Afghanistan's interim government takes power on December 22.

"I anticipate that at least lead elements of it will be here," Dobbins said. "There will be advance elements of the force that should be here by the 22nd."

Dobbins declined to say how many troops would be involved but hinted that the number would not be dramatically high.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that some U.S. personnel currently stationed in Afghanistan will stay in the country in a peacekeeping role once an international security force was in place.

"U.S. troops will stay there until they have accomplished their mission, which is to defeat the Taliban, well under way; destroy al-Qaida, well under way; and do everything they can to find Osama bin Laden," Powell said on Sunday.