Afghans Want to Work With U.N., Envoy Says

KABUL, Afghanistan —  The rebels who dragged a former president from his U.N. safe haven and executed him are now ready to work with the United Nations for peace, a diplomat said Sunday.

The new rulers of Kabul, however, would not promise to abide by international codes on human rights or women’s rights, U.N. special envoy Norbert Holl said after meeting with the senior leader of the Taliban guerrillas in the Afghan capital.

The Taliban, formed two years ago by religious students, pressed on Sunday with implementing its version of Islamic law and tried to show that it could accomplish another goal--bringing peace to a society devastated by war.

There were few women on the streets Sunday, most heeding clerics’ calls from loudspeakers atop the city’s mosques to stay home. Those who would venture out were told to wear traditional Islamic clothing, covering themselves head to toe.

Girls schools remained closed for a second day, with no word on when or if they will reopen. Markets were open, and men moved about freely.

Late in the evening, electricity returned to Kabul--a city that has been virtually without power for three years.

Holl was welcomed in Kabul by a Taliban honor guard, then driven past the traffic post where the bloodied corpse of former Communist President Najibullah had hung in the sun until just hours before Holl’s arrival.

The envoy was taken to the rocket-damaged presidential palace, headquarters to the new Islamic administration since the Taliban overran the capital Friday, to meet with Mullah Mohammed Rabbani.