Peacekeepers in Afghanistan are carrying out security checks on a house being refurbished for exiled King Mohammed Zaher Shah when he returns to Kabul this month.

Afghans welcomed talks aimed at forming a broad-based, interim government today, and expressed overwhelming support for the exiled king as a leader the nation could unite behind.

Pakistan has urged the United States to hold back its attack on frontline Taliban forces to prevent Afghanistan’s opposition northern alliance from storming into the capital.

Afghanistan’s former king said last night he recognised the ‘‘legitimate right’’ of the United States to pursue those responsible for the terrorist attacks but urged that innocents be spared in the strikes on his homeland.