AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 1 - Ex-King & N. Alliance Set Take Over Plan.

Meeting in Rome, exiled king Mohammed Zahir Shah and Northern Alliance representatives agree to convene an emergency "Supreme Council" in Rome at end-October to plan a traditional tribal gathering that would choose a replacement for the Taliban. The council, whose members would be nominated by the former king and the Northern Alliance, would be ready to fill a vacuum if the Taliban is forced out. But even failing that, if a "dire situation" prevents such a tribal conclave, the council could itself become a transitional, de facto government. (Yet both the king and the opposition commanders have presented their plan in part as a way to avoid US reprisals on Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Ladin, suspected in the terrorist attacks on the US, is under Taliban protection. The Northern Alliance, which controls about 10% of the country, and Zahir Shah, 86, said in a joint statement they would set up a "Supreme Council for the National Unity of Afghanistan". It would include about 120 Afghan leaders, who would in turn call a loya jirga, a traditional tribal gathering of all ethnic groups, to elect a transitional government. Before the Supreme Council replaces the Taliban, it would presumably have to gain control of the country. But the two sides seem not only newly united but newly hopeful, saying this is a vulnerable moment for the Taliban, who seem to be losing support out of fear of US military strikes). Zahir Shah spokesman Abdul Sattar Sirat says: "Within one or two weeks of its inception, the council will be the only legitimate body to take decisions relative to Afghanistan. We support cleaning up terrorist elements but would never accept an attack on our innocent people". Yousnou Kanuni, head of the Northern Alliance delegation, says: "I'm convinced the agreement we've reached today will be the start of a new era for Afghanistan". The former king's youngest son, Mir Wais Zahir says: "We're very, very satisfied". Zahir Shah received promises of support from a US congressional delegation at his home on Sept. 30, although a White House spokesman later said the US was not backing any specific replacement for the Taliban. (The former king has always said he does not seek to restore the monarchy. Theologians in three Afghan provinces take him seriously enough to have announced they will burn down the homes of those found to be supporting "the US puppet Zahir Shah". Some Western diplomats quietly fear he may be too weak to throw himself back into politics, particularly at such a volatile moment, in a country that has been at war almost constantly since a Soviet-backed coup against him in 1973. The logical challenges involved in convening a traditional tribal council are certainly enormous, particularly since the Taliban still control most of the country. And even the former king's son says his father is "always calm" but also depressed by recent events. Since 1973, he has lived in almost complete isolation in Rome. He adds: "After living in Kabul, surrounded by so many people, they came here and were alone. It was just my mother and him every night", alone with their memories, including an especially fond one of a state visit to the Kennedy White House. Doctors check him every few days, his son says. "His health is good, but he was very depressed in these days about what happened in New York and Washington" and about the death of the former Northern Alliance commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who died in a Sept. 9 suicide attack against him. Nonetheless, his son says: "He always promised until the last breath of his life he'd work for Afghanistan, and this is the right time").