ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday named a special envoy to explore options for Afghanistan’s future as the US stepped up its planning for a post-Taliban era in the war-shattered country.

Mr Powell, speaking to reporters en route here from Washington, said he would consult Pakistan and India on how they saw a new Afghan regime but he warned the two nuclear rivals that no one country would have a veto over the next government in Kabul.

“In the last several days, we have picked up the beat on what we may have to do in a post-Taliban world,” Mr Powell said as he began a delicate mission aimed at easing tensions between India and Pakistan that have escalated since last month’s terrorist attacks in the United States.

“We are looking at contigency plans and getting ready for the possibiltiy that sometime in the near future there could be a need to respond to the collapse of the government, if one can call that evil regime a government.”

Mr Powell declined to say what plans the US might back but said it was becoming increasingly unlikely that any component of the Taliban could be included.

Mr Powell said Richard Haass, the State Department’s director of policy planning, would serve as his “special coordinator” for Afghanistan, consulting with Afghan opposition groups, the United Nations and others about the composition and type of government that should take over from the Taliban.

Mr Haass “will be my personal representative examining alternatives with the UN and other nations directly, bilaterally with other nations,” he said.

He is to meet UN officials in New York early this week and UN chief Kofi Annan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, is to meet US officials in Washington later in the week, Mr Powell said.

Mr Powell stressed that the US had no interest in backing former king Zahir Shah or anyone else for any role in a new Afghan government.

He said he wanted to hear what both President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had to say on the subject.

“I want to hear the assessment from these two distinguished leaders and their associates as to their perspective on this and any advice they have for us,” Mr Powell said.

But, he maintained that no south or Central Asian country would have “veto power” over any particular suggestion for a government which Wahington and others believe must be as broad- based and inclusive as possible.

“Those nations that are in the neighborhood, of course, have perhaps a more direct interest in the outcome than those further away, but I don’t think anyone would suggest any longer that they should have a veto over what might happen in Afghanistan with respect to a future governemnt,” Mr Powell said.