Security Assignment to the Loya Jirga
The Afghan National Army provided most of the security for the constitutional conference ("loya jirga") that was held in December. Iain was a member of the ISAF liaison group which was on site during the conference to assist the Afghans and coordinate ISAF support to the conference. When Iain wrote the Dec 5 email, he was working with the Afghans preparing for the conference.
Afghan council split on new constitution
On first day of talks, a bizarre alliance opposes Karzai's presidential system
By HAMIDA GHAFOUR
Special to The Globe and Mail
Monday, December 15, 2003 - Page A14
KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for national unity yesterday as the grand assembly to ratify the country's new constitution got under way, but as many as half of the 500 delegates were opposed to the presidential system of government laid out in the document before the meeting even began.
Mr. Karzai, who has argued that Afghanistan needs a presidential system in order to provide the war-torn government with a strong central authority, said in his opening speech to the loya jirga that the constitutional talks will "give to our society the opportunity to choose the future. And it is for the first time in the history of Afghanistan that public opinion is given due value."
The President is faced with opposition from a bizarre alliance between former holy warriors, democrats, Islamic fundamentalists and monarchists who want a parliamentary system with a more even distribution of power. A petition in circulation yesterday demanding that Mr. Karzai hold a referendum on the system had 210 signatures.
Yesterday's assembly took place in a large white tent on the grounds of the old Kabul polytechnic school. The ceremony opened with 13 children in national costume singing traditional folk songs, a touching scene that reduced some of the brawny men among the 500 delegates to tears. Security was tight around the capital, with sharpshooters on rooftops and hundreds of soldiers lining the streets after warnings from the U.S. military that Taliban militants might try to attack the convention.
The delegates are expected to spar over a number of issues in coming days: the role of Afghan women, Islam's place in politics and the sharing of power in a country accustomed to fighting over it. But it was the draft constitution that caused the early stir.
The document presented yesterday calls for a moderate Islamic republic with a directly elected executive president, no prime minister and two legislative chambers.
The constitution is a delicate balance between secularism and religious law, and delegates must not allow special interests such as the fundamentalists to hijack it, warned Mohammed Amin Ahmedi, a member of the constitutional review commission.
The opposition is also demanding that the 50 loya jirga delegates appointed by Mr. Karzai not have the right to vote on the constitution, and that the current assembly be established as a permanent oversight council.
Karzai ahead in constitution debate
Al Jazeera Sunday 21 December 2003, 18:46 Makka Time, 15:46 GMT
President Hamid Karzai appeared to be emerging as the main winner at a historic meeting to discuss Afghanistan's constitution, as delegates edged towards agreeing his vision for the future.
As discussions continued on Sunday on the country's new draft constitution, delegates look increasingly likely to back a controversial system of wide-ranging presidential powers.
The strong presidential system laid down in the draft has been
one of the most divisive issues at the Loya Jirga, or grand assembly.
Several of the 502 delegates, including some powerful former anti-Soviet mujahidin, have said they would prefer a prime minister or at least a parliament with real teeth to counter-balance sweeping presidential powers.
Critics have warned that if too much power is in the hands of the president, it risks widening the country's deep ethnic and factional divides.
On Saturday Karzai repeated that he would stand in next year's presidential polls only if the Loya Jirga approves the presidential system.
With Afghanistan slowly emerging from decades of conflict, delegates appeared to have backed Karzai's view that a strong presidential system was needed as the country lacked mature political parties for a successful parliamentary democracy.
Karzai also hailed the progress the loya jirga had made since its opening last Sunday on debating the 160-article document which will pave the way for the country's transition to democracy in elections scheduled for June 2004.
"It's not slow progress; it's very good progress," he told reporters. "The work of the Loya Jirga is going very well," he said.
Delegates, who include 100 women, have been divided into 10 groups to discuss the 160-article draft before coming together for open sessions, which are held in a huge white tent, set up in the heavily guarded Kabul polytechnic campus.
Streets around the Loya Jirga site have been sealed off while foreign peacekeepers, newly trained Afghan soldiers, police and secret service agents provided tight security amid threats from resurgent Taliban fighters.
AFP
Rocket strike on Kabul amid talks
BBC Dec 22, 2003
Two rockets hit a residential area in the north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, late on Sunday.
They landed several kilometres from the site where hundreds of delegates at the loya jirga (grand council) are debating Afghanistan's new constitution.
A house was damaged in the attack, but there were no injuries.
The authorities in Kabul and Nato-led peacekeeping forces say remnants of the former Taleban want to disrupt the historic meeting.
The loya jirga is forging Afghanistan's political future
Delegates reportedly agreed in principle to back a strong presidential system supported by Afghan interim President Hamid Karzai. On Saturday, the US envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said it appeared that President Karzai was winning support for the controversial presidential system after a week of debates at the loya jirga.