Karzai Meets Former Afghan King in Rome

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Karzai Meets Former Afghan King in Rome

New Afghan leader Hamid Karzai received the blessing of the country's exiled former king on Tuesday and said he was determined to "fight terrorism to the end" and revive the war-wrecked economy.

New Afghan leader Hamid Karzai received the blessing of the country's exiled former king on Tuesday and said he was determined to "fight terrorism to the end" and revive the war-wrecked economy.

As if to underscore the importance of the moment, 87-year-old King Mohammad Zaher Shah stepped outside his heavily guarded Roman villa for a rare appearance before reporters.

Karzai, who will be sworn in as interim Afghan prime minister Saturday, said the king discussed "a lot of things" about leading the country, but didn't elaborate.

The king, considered the symbolic father of Afghans, presented Karzai with a personal copy of the Quran, encased in a green, leather-bound box. Karzai said the Muslim holy book would guide him once he takes office on Saturday. He kissed the Quran and the king's hands in thanks.

The encounter capped a day in which Karzai received a pledge from Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi for $38 million in government aid, a promise from the media magnate-politician to fund a TV and a radio station and a minute of applause from lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies.

Italy has offered up to 600 troops for an international peacekeeping force that is to begin moving into Afghanistan under British leadership by Saturday when Karzai is sworn in as interim prime minister.

Karzai said the peacekeepers, that may eventually number upward of 6,000, would be welcome to stay "as long as it takes for Afghan stability." He said the creation of an Afghan national army was key to preventing warlords from undermining security.

He said his top priority was to maintain peace and stability, "and to fight terrorism to the end in Afghanistan and in the rest of the world."

Karzai was selected to head Afghanistan's interim administration at U.N.-sponsored talks in Germany earlier this month. Karzai, who was part of the king's delegation, will rule along with a 29-member cabinet for six months.

The king, seen by many as a unifying figure, then is to convene a grand national assembly, or loya jirga, to choose a government to lead Afghanistan for two years while a constitution is drafted and a judicial system and police force are put into place.

The king, who has lived in Rome since his 1973 ouster in a palace coup, could leave for Afghanistan within the next month or two to start making plans for the tribal assembly, said Zalmai Rassoul, an adviser.

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