Who will be the one to unite and rule Afghanistan

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A. The smart money is on Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader. He is tipped to become the fully-fledged prime minister of the country in a vore by the tribal council - Loya Jirga - later this year.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� How did he rise to influence

A.� Karzai, 44, a Pashtun warlord with the backing of the exiled King Zahir Shah, returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan to recruit anti-Taliban fighters shortly after the US bombing campaign on 7 October. After Kabul was liberated and the Taliban all but wiped out, Karzai was the natural choice at the Bonn talks to help phase in a new government. He speaks six languages and is widely admired - even for his sense of style.

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Q.� Dress sense

A.� He has great charisma and sartorial elegance. Tom Ford, the creative director of Gucci, described him as 'the most chic man in the world'. Karzai's trademark astrakhan hat and long coat embroidered in the national colours is attaining a similar iconic status to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, whose collarless 'Nehru jacket' became a fashion must for celebrities.

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Q.� A warlord ... so he's from a powerful family

A.� Hamid Karzai's grandfather was a president of the national council under King Zahir Shah before he was ousted in 1973. His father Abdul Ahad became a senator in parliament. Hamid was educated in India where he gained a masters degree in political science. In 1983 he moved to Pakistan to help in the fight against the Soviet invasion. When the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan, Karzai became the first deputy foreign minister of the Taliban government in May, 1992, and was asked to become their ambassador to the United Nations.

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Q.� So then he was pro-Taliban

A.� Yes - but not for long. He declined the ambassador’s post, describing the Taliban as puppets of Pakistan and Arab terrorists. He then quit the government and went into exile in Pakistan, but kept in touch with Afghanistan's tribal leaders. Then his father was murdered.

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Q.� How

A.� Abdul Ahad Karzai, 75, former governor of Kandahar under the reign of Zahir Shah, was gunned down on his way home from the mosque in Quetta, southern Pakistan. Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, is said to have given the order. Hamid Karzai was galvanised into action. Elected head of the clan Popolzai by elders, he put together a convoy of more than 300 vehicles to take his father's body home to Kandahar for burial. The Taliban, fearing a bloody confrontation, left the procession alone. He became a folk hero and from then, his mixture of charm, diplomacy and resolution has won him many admirers.

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Q.� But what about the international world of diplomacy

A.� At the heart of the country's problems is international meddling; so is its tribal warfare. Karzai says he wants roads, schools, hospitals and an end to 'warlordism'. He also says he will be 'nobody's puppet' - a tough claim in a world where everybody wants a piece of the shattered Afghanistan. The man once seen as just another tribal leader is now being seen as a statesman. But whether he will be the man to solve Afghanistan's problems remains to be seen.

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Steve Cunningham