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Leaders dispute Zahir role

KABUL JUNE 10. The opening session of the grand council called to organise a new Afghan government was delayed on Monday because of a dispute within the Afghan leadership over the role of the former king, diplomatic and Afghan officials said.

Aides to the interim Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai, said a one-day delay was likely. Diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an official announcement of the postponement was expected to be issued.

Leaders of the Northern Alliance, who dominate the interim regime, strongly oppose any role for the former monarch, Mohammad Zahir Shah, in the government to be chosen by the council, or loya jirga. Mr. Zahir Shah is to convene the council.

However, many of the 1,550 delegates want the former king to have a formal role in the next government. Support for him is especially strong among the country's major ethnic group, the Pashtuns. The Northern Alliance is dominated by ethnic Tajiks.

Late on Sunday, the country's intelligence chief and key Northern Alliance leader, Mohammed Arif, sent armed men into the tightly guarded compound where the loya jirga is to meet in what diplomats said appeared to be a show of strength by the Tajik-dominated alliance.

The delegates, among them 200 women, had been expected to begin the task of selecting a head of state, deciding the framework of the transitional government and naming ministers to key posts. The new government will lead for 18 months pending elections.

Mr. Zahir Shah, who returned to his homeland in April after 29 years in exile, has been touted as the man who can unify Afghanistan.

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