Neither Afghanistan's former king nor the Northern Alliance's president Mr Burhanuddin Rabbani will head a new Afghan interim government, diplomats monitoring power-sharing talks in Germany said.
The talks on forging a post-Taliban government continue as diplomats earlier said they may extend past the UN’s goal of finishing today.
"It is evident that neither the (former) king nor Rabbani will be head of the cabinet," said a western diplomat at the UN-brokered talks who asked not to be identified
A European Union source close to the talks said 87-year-old ex-king Mohammed Zahir Shah, who has lived in exile in Rome since 1973, was not considered a "practical option" to lead a small interim cabinet, while Mr Rabbani was "not seen as a unifying figure".
Both sources said one leadership figure currently under consideration was Mr Hamid Karzai, a royalist and ethnic Pashtun tribal leader now fighting the Taliban in the south of the country.
But they emphasised discussions were currently centered on sharing out cabinet portfolios, having abandoned an initial UN blueprint of first establishing a larger, parliament-style supreme council.
That plan was hit by difficulties when the Northern Alliance could not agree on its list of nominees.
The sources said the focus of the talks had shifted to the composition of a cabinet on the suggestion of United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi.
Earlier diplomats said talks between the four rival Afghan delegations on may not end today.
A UN official said a briefing planned for 8 p.m. on the media boat moored on the banks of the Rhine below the Petersberg hotel where four Afghan factions are negotiating, had been delayed until further notice.
UN spokesman Mr Ahmad Fawzi had said earlier he hoped the talks in a hilltop hotel outside Bonn, which started on Tuesday, would be completed today.
AFP and