Pakistan pushes for Afghan coalition to replace Taliban

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.

Pakistan, which had backed the Taliban until supporting the US-British bombing campaign, seeks a broad-based Afghan coalition, and supports the former king as an interim leader, foreign minister Abdul Sattar said in an interview with ABC television news.

‘‘We have nothing against the northern alliance,’’ Sattar said, but ‘‘there should be a balance, namely that the ethnic communities should be represented in the future government’’.

The northern alliance includes many ethnic minorities, whereas the Taliban is dominated by Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

The US-led campaign aims to destroy terrorist installations that belong to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Pakistan has lent support to the campaign an extremely controversial move in the Muslim country of 145 million people.

Asked if Pakistan had pushed for US restraint in action that could allow the northern alliance to take Kabul, Sattar responded: ‘‘This is substantially true.

‘‘For the minority ethnic group in the north east to march down to the south, capture Kabul, will destabilise an already volatile situation,’’ he said.

The foreign minister, speaking from Islamabad, also expressed concern about a prolonged campaign against Afghanistan, worrying in particular about a flood of refugees.

Sattar laid out a vision of Afghanistan after the Taliban, calling first for a temporary unity government backed by United Nations forces if necessary. This government could include some former Taliban members, Sattar said, although he denounced some policies of the group.

‘‘Those people who are responsible for bringing this hardship to the Afghan people by mortgaging their policy to a handful of outlaws who are foreigners, they probably will not have a role in the future,’’ he said. The statement was an apparent reference to the influence of bin Laden and other Arabs over the Taliban, which have refused to hand over him and other accused terrorists.

Sattar said the 87-year-old exiled Afghan king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, would be an acceptable leader of an interim government. The king has lived in exile in Rome since being ousted in 1973, which was followed by decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

‘‘King Zaher Shah is known for the benign rule that he gave to his country. In fact, his era, seems in retrospect, to be a golden era.’’