The World - News from Sept. 18, 1989

Afghan President Najibullah asserted that U.S. officials are trying to bolster their aid to anti-Communist rebels by meeting with deposed Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah in Italy. However, radical Afghan guerrillas with bases in Pakistan threatened to assassinate the former monarch if he tries to return and head a postwar government in Kabul. The warring sides in Afghan’s civil war commented after reports that a U.S. envoy met with the exiled king in Rome. After months of trying to forge unity within the guerrilla coalition, Washington reportedly is considering alternatives. But the rebels are split over a possible role for the 74-year-old king.