Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai is expected in Rome today (Tuesday) to meet with former Afghan king Mohammad Zahir Shah before accompanying him back to Afghanistan for the first time in almost three decades.
The trip will take place under extremely tight security and the exact time of departure is not being released.
In Afghanistan, Mr. Zahir Shah will prepare to convene in June a loya jirga, or traditional tribal council, to select a Afghanistan's next government.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon says four U.S. soldiers were killed in a munitions explosion Monday near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says another soldier was wounded in the incident.
In other developments, the pan-Arab television network al-Jazeera Monday broadcast a series of undated video clips containing footage of fugitive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Mr. Rumsfeld says he has been advised the tape is a patchwork of old clippings. He says the video shows a man identified as one of the September 11 hijackers.