Afghan king and Taliban foes form alliance

Afghanistan’s exiled king and the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance agreed today to convene an emergency council of tribal and military leaders to select a new head of state for the beleaguered nation.

They left the door open for the Taliban to take part in the council, which will be held in Afghanistan soon, aides to the king said.

But it is highly unlikely that the militia now in control of more than 90% of the country would agree.

The council would consist of 120 people representing the Northern Alliance, different provinces and different ethnic groups, including the majority Pashtuns, the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara, said Abdul Sattar Sirat, a senior adviser to former King Mohammad Zahir Shah who now lives in Italy.

The United States has indicted its support for the king’s efforts to convene the so-called loya jirga, or grand national assembly, a traditional institution in Afghanistan which has fallen by the wayside during decades of war.

The US support is part of its efforts to unite opposition to the Taliban, the Islamic hard-liners who control most of Afghanistan and harbour Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect for the terror attacks on the United States.

‘‘This is the start of a new era for the Afghans to bring unity to the country,’’ said Mohammed Younus Qanooni, the head of a delegation of Northern Alliance commanders held talks with the 86-year-old monarch.

The king, exiled in Italy since his 1973 overthrow, has long dreamed of convening a loya jirga, but the idea only gained momentum with the prospect of a US attack on the Taliban.

Sirat said ‘‘the door of the council is open to all’’ and he predicted that with the king’s support, the new Supreme Council for National Unity for Afghanistan would command legitimacy that the Taliban could not ignore.

According to the agreement announced today, the new council would choose a leader and new government itself if a loya jirga could not be convened.

The Taliban have rejected previous initiatives from the Northern Alliance to form a broad-based government and are competing with the ex-king’s supporters for influence among the tribes in southern and southeastern Afghanistan.

On Monday, the Taliban announced a power-sharing arrangement with tribes in three southern provinces apparently designed to counter the monarch’s initiative.

The Taliban, which largely represents the country’s Pashtun majority, would collapse without the support of the cultural minority tribes.