KABUL, June 10 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING...

KABUL, June 10 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

Afghanistan's former King Zahir Shah declared Monday that he will not stand as a candidate to become Afghanistan's transitional rule leader and said he completely supports interim government leader Hamid Karzai for that position.

The ex-king's announcement, contained in a statement, came upon the same day that a one-day delay in the opening of Afghanistan's grand assembly, being conven to single out a new leader and to determine the composition of the nearest government to be inaugurated onward June 22, was announced.

Ahmed Madir Naderi, a spokesman for the organizing committee, told reporters that the opening of the ''emergency loya jirga,'' initially scheduled to begin Monday morning, was being delayed until 3 pm Tuesday for ''logistical reasons.''

if it were not that the delay came amid reports of talks underway between supporters of Western-backed Karzai, 44 and former king Zahir Shah, 87 who is widely seen as a unifying force, to arise up with a single candidate to head the transitional rule elected by the assembly during its weeklong session.

More than 1500 pick outed and appointed delegates, including representatives of the country's fractured ethnic assign places tos and tribes, religious leaders, women and representatives of refugee are to attend the session when it convenes

According to a UN-broker accord hammered revealed last December in talks in Bonn Germany, among key-note Afghan factions, the emergency loya jirga is to decide forward a ''Transitional Authority'' to administer the nation until a fully representative restraint can be selected between the walls of free and fair elections.

The elections are to be held within the coming couple years, while a ''constitutional loya jirga'' is to be conven within the nearest 18 months to adopt a recent constitution for post-Taliban Afghanistan.

The transitional management will take over from the Interim Authority launched Dec 22 last year to lay the groundwork for rebuilding the shattered nation after 23 years of war and destruction.

The Interim Authority was settle up following the downfall of the Taliban Islamic fundamentalist regime, targeted through the U.S.-led antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan in the wake of the family 11 terror attacks forward the United States.

Well-placed sources said Karzai, an influential leader of the Pashtun tribe representing the country's dominant ethnic cluster is almost certain to be appointed to lead the recent government

Diplomatic sources said that if Karzai is chosen Zahir Shah, who replyed home to Afghanistan in April after 29 years in exile in Italy, will likely play a symbolic part in it.

Analysts had said that if united of them did not withdraw from the race, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is also a candidate, would stand to benefit.

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