Exiled Afghan leaders have called on the United States to end its military campaign against their country. The call was made in a resolution at the end of a two-day meeting of over a thousand elders, warriors and religious leaders in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
The leaders also called for a grand assembly of all groups to discuss a possible post-Taliban government. They stressed the importance of a role for the 87-year-old former king, Zahir Shah. He is seen by many as the only figure able to pull together Afghanistan's many warring factions and ethnic groups.
The resolution also issued a veiled warning to the Northern Alliance. It said that, if a particular group filled the political vacuum created by an eventual fall of the Taliban through military operations, a new phase of bloodshed and disorder would follow.
