analysis

Since his return from the United States three weeks ago, Abdul Haq has emerged as an important figure in the on-going political drama to depose Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and choose a successor.

Testimony to Haq's importance is manifest from the daily stream of guests and foreign journalists visiting the palatial house in the posh Hayatabad neighbourhood of Peshawar where the bearded, stout man holds court.

Working in his favour, on the one hand, are his credentials as a member of the mujahidin , the group of Islamic fighters who drove the invading Soviet Union forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s. Haq was a commander of the Hizb-e-Islami group. On the other hand, there is what Haq, in his mid-40s, says in fluent English about his current mission - to rid Afghanistan of its extremist Taliban rulers and establish a broad-based government. "People in Afghanistan are sick and tired of the Taliban. The whole world is our enemy. We want to change this and live like normal human beings," says Haq, who adds that he has little designs on a leadership role.

Included in his strategy are efforts to woo all the former and present commanders of the mujahidin to his side or buy their loyalties if the need arises. "I want the neutral leaders to become active. For this I am talking to tribal leaders. All tribes and commanders are coming together. More than half the Taliban commanders have agreed to change sides because they also want to have place for themselves in the new set-up," he says.

Military campaign

Haq, however, is not the only former mujahidin thinking along such lines. The caste of anti-Taliban advocates includes Haji Zaman, also in his mid-40s, who has recently returned to Pakistan from France.

During the military campaign against the Soviet forces, Zaman was the commander of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, which had an estimated 4,000 fighters in its ranks.

Also lending weight is Malik Zarin, a former fighter from the Kunar province. After taking on the Soviet army, Zarin turned his guns on the Taliban government, often fighting on the side of the Northern Alliance.

Their plans, furthermore, are concrete, regards Afghanistan's former king Zahir Shah, who has been living in exile in Rome for the last three decades. He will play a central role, they admit.

Such thinking, in fact, has impressed political analysts here, who believe that Haq, for one, enjoys a good reputation and has the mantle to muster support from other Afghan tribal leaders. He also has the blessing of the Pakistan government, since it neither opposed his return nor objected to his activities.

Helping Haq and other former mujahideen to rally support for the exiled monarch is Pir Sayed Ahmed Gilani, who heads the Assembly of Peace and Unity for Afghanistan. Gilani has been meeting members of the Afghan Diaspora to garner support for the octogenarian king's return.

"What war could not achieve, we will achieve through peace," he says.

'Kiss of death'

Such moves for the king's return have also won favour among a few Afghan academics. "With the king at the helm of affairs, lot of peace-loving Afghans will return and help rebuilding the country," says Prof Rasool Amin, former professor of political science at Kabul University.

It is a common belief among Afghanistan observers that the king is the only person who can bring together all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, including the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and Turkmens.

This, however, is not the first time that the Zahir Shah option has been discussed. On the eve of the Soviet forces withdrawing from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, the country's communist leader at the time, Najibullah, offered a 'national reconciliation' option, which involved him stepping down in favour of an interim government in Kabul and where the king was invited back to monitor this transition.

But Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's former ruler, objected, describing the suggestion as a 'kiss of death'.

Subsequently, the mujahidin commanders turned into warlords, each having his own sphere of influence in war-ravaged Afghanistan. Most of them were involved in weapons and drugs smuggling, while some grew wealthy out of the gem and timber trade.

Reversal of roles

Haq admits to the mistakes committed during this period of mayhem and violence, which ended when the warlords were driven out by the Taliban's arrival on the scene in 1996.

But now, he welcomes the reversal of roles, where the Taliban is at the receiving end of a military assault spearheaded by the US-led international coalition in its 'war on terrorism'. The United States is targeting Afghanistan's ruling Taliban for protecting Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident named by Washington as the prime suspect behind the Sept 11 acts of terror in the United States.

And the prospect of unity among the former mujahidin also excites Haq. The former king, he adds, will help in creating such a united front.

The United Nations, too, is lending weight to the Zahir Shah option. Frances Vendrell, UN special envoy on Afghanistan, has met a number of Afghan personalities and parties in Geneva and Rome to thrash out modalities for a broad-based government.

"They should form a broad-based representative government through talks for the purpose that they may eventually result in elections or Loya Jirga," Vendrell was quoted as having said.