The UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, was to hold talks here Wednesday with Italy's Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero and former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah, UN and Italian officials said.
Brahimi was to meet Ruggiero around 1:00 pm (1200 GMT), a foreign ministry official told AFP.
Brahimi was arriving from Tehran where he said Tuesday he hoped the US military strikes on Afghanistan would end "as soon as possible".
The Italian parliament was expected to formally sanction sending troops to Afghanistan later Wednesday.
Brahimi's talks with the 87-year-old former king were due to take place at the Zahir Shah's heavily guarded residence outside Rome in the evening, a UN spokeswoman in Rome said.
"Mr Brahimi left Tehran this morning on a private plane. He is due to meet the king this evening," she said.
Efforts to install a post-conflict administration in Afghanistan have centred around the former king, despite his 28 years in exile in Rome. He ruled his country for 40 years before his removal in a 1973 coup d'etat.
Zahir Shah, who said he is ready to return from exile "if that would help my people," has called for the deployment of a UN-mandated peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
During his three-day mission to Iran, Brahimi had talks with high-ranking officials who expressed Tehran's reluctance to see a return to power of the former king -- ROME, (AFP)
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