SAN FRANCISCO, May 27: When 1,500 Afghans gather in Kabul next month to plan the country’s future, the former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah is likely to be elected as head of state and the interim leader, Hamid Karzai, is expected to win an easy victory and lead the new government, US press reports predicted.

The Los Angeles Times reported from Kabul that a consensus was forming among the organizers of the Loya Jirga that the former king will be chosen as head of state, but that most powers will be vested in a prime minister’s post to be filled by Karzai.

However, the paper said that one of the most difficult-to- measure elements is the potential support for Burhanuddin Rabbani who insists that he remains head of state and the best promise of unifying this fractured country.

Rabbani returned to Kabul after US bombing and a Northern Alliance advance drove out theTalibans in November, imperiously occupying the presidential palace and proclaiming himself the rightful Afghan ruler.

Even after a power-sharing accord was reached near Bonn, Germany, ushering in the Karzai government in December, it took UN authorities two months to persuade Rabbani to leave the bombed-out palace—and only after he was provided the plush villa in the Wazir Akbar Khan district where the former king is now a neighbor.

The paper said that although Rabbani has assured UN and foreign officials organizing the loya jirga that he will accept whatever decisions are made, he also has close ties with several Tajik and Uzbek regional warlords in the north who have little regard for Karzai or his fellow Pushtuns from the southern regions.

Meanwhile, San Jose Mercury News reported that Mr. Karzai has cleared two important hurdles to getting the job for the next 18 months. He is being strongly backed by the former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah.