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'Hekmatyar on verge

of rejoining Kabul'

KABUL: Ex-Afghan premier, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is on the verge of rejoining the Kabul government two years after launching a bloody coup against his former foes here, a top official said on Saturday.

We can say we are on the threshold of the implementation of some of the political agreements made between our two parties, President Burhanuddin Rabbani's spokesman Abdul Aziz Murad said.

"Engineer Hekmatyar has now made up his mind to come to take up certain posts in Kabul, although technically some more work has to be done.

Hopefully we will see this implementation very soon, he added.

Other official sources said the final details of the accord could be settled in as little as six days.

There has been speculation over recent months that Hekmatyar may soon return to Kabul, but Murad's comments are the first by a senior official indicating that the deal is nearing conclusion, analysts said.

The comments came after months of negotiations between Kabul and Hekmatyar who split violently with the government in 1994 over a political and military pact between his Hezb-i-Islami faction and Rabbani's administration.

The former Mujahedeen leader has signed an agreement giving him the posts of prime minister, minister of defence and minister of finance in return for allying himself with the beleaguered government, sources here said.

They have also revealed that the two sides had signed another accord for a joint military effort aimed at routing the Taliban militia from their positions around the besieged capital Kabul.

But Murad dismissed the claims, saying the pact with the Hezb was aimed solely at creating an axis for peace. The objective is not to create a military alliance which would trigger fighting, he added.

Murad said there were no major obstacles blocking an immediate implementation of the political pact, which would see the coalition government revert to almost the same form it had when it came to power exactly four years ago.

Murad said the apparent progress in the talks had come as visiting Pakistani opposition senator Qazi Hussain Ahmad shuttled between the two groups in an attempt to speed the conclusion of their pact.

The leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party, who is a long-standing friend of Hekmatyar's, was invited to Kabul early this week by Rabbani.-AFP