In the upcoming loya jirga, Tajik leaders are expected to back one of their own to lead the new government.

The reality, he said, was that Hajji Qadir had been a close ally of Afghanistan's Tajik leaders for years.

The mosque is named after Haji Yakoub, a Tajik religious leader who fled to Afghanistan.

Mr. Yeltsin warned the Tajik leader, Emomili Rakhmonov, that Russia wanted a quick peace settlement with rebels based in the mountains near Afghanistan.

The Tajik leaders, these observers say, have no deep ideological commitment, but are devoted primarily to staying in power.

But the Tajik leaders cannot seem to decide whether they want Communism or capitalism, democracy or one-party rule.

The Tajik leaders decided that shashmaqam should form a part of their great cultural tradition.

Mr. Rabbani became Afghanistan's first Tajik leader in 250 years when he assumed the presidency in 1992.

Tajik religious leaders deny that they want to create a fundamentalist Islamic state, as Mr. Nabiyev asserts.

During the occupation, Faiz Mohammad was forced to take part in a delegation sent by Kalakani to negotiate with Hazara groups opposing the Tajik leader.