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| Afghanistan |
| Loya Jirga opens |
| 2002-06-11 |
| Afghanistan opened its grand council to choose a new government Tuesday, shortly after the nation's former president bowed out of the race for head of state, removing the last major challenger to interim leader Hamid Karzai. That's nine months to the day after 9-11... The council, or loya jirga, convened Tuesday afternoon in a huge, carpeted, air conditioned tent, where the 1,550 delegates are to choose a new government to lead the nation from the devastation of war. "Today, the 11th of June 2002, in Kabul, the capital, the heart of Afghanistan, we have a message - a message of national unity, a message of peace, a message of reconstruction," Chairman Ismail Qasim Yar said in welcoming remarks. "We are hoping this loya jirga, with unity and shared hearts, can solve the problems that have faced our land for 23 years." Beats hell out of having an Amir al Moumeen chopping people's heads off and an occupying army of Arabs, Chechens and Paks, doesn't it? The session was then suspended for about a half hour until the arrival of the aged former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, who formally convened the loya jirga. "I'm here to do a service after long years of being away," Zaher Shah in a soft voice barely audible as he sat at a table flanked by Afghan flags. "By the will of God, after 29 years of exile, I am back in my country with my nation." Zaher Shah urged the delegates to work "for the unity and independence of Afghanistan... My only wish is to bring peace in the country, national unity, reconciliation and to take the nation back to peace and integrity." We can only imagine what he's feeling. Not many of the other participants can even remember the days he's talking about. A good number of them probably don't even believe they existed... Hours before the council convened, Burhanuddin Rabbani, president of post-communist Afghan governments, said he was withdrawing his candidacy for head of state and supporting Karzai. "I am proposing Chairman Karzai as the sole candidate before the loya jirga," Rabbani told reporters hours before the loya jirga was to convene. And we can only wonder what the payoff was for that statement. Rabbani's been chewing sour grapes since shortly after the Bonn conference... On Monday, Zaher Shah renounced any role in the new government and backed Karzai, dashing hopes of some delegates that he would stand for head of state. The ethnic Tajik clique that dominates the current administration opposed any role for the king, and their objections to his possible candidacy forced a one-day delay in the start of the loya jirga. Rabbani is an ethnic Tajik. It appeared that deals had been cut for him and Zaher Shah, an ethnic Pashtun, to step aside, possibly in exchange for posts for their allies in the new government. "We came into Kabul as warriors, as conquerors. We had full control of the city," Rabbani said, referring to the takeover of Kabul by his northern alliance fighters in November. "But we made concessions then for the best interest of the country. And now we do this again." He said he expected to play a role in helping the new head of state choose a Cabinet. Ah... That'd be the payoff. Selection of a head of state was among the first orders of business for the 1,550 delegates - representing all aspects of Afghan society. The government they will choose must write a new constitution and oversee preparations for nationwide elections. Security was tight, with international peacekeepers inside and outside the massive air conditioned tent set up for the meeting. Two big-screen televisions were ready to provide live coverage. However, the last-minute politicking and dealmaking left many delegates disillusioned, feeling that the selection of leaders had been scripted in advance by the outgoing leadership under pressure from the United States. Perhaps that's because we feel we have an interest in Afghanistan now, too. We've made an investment, and we don't want to see it go down the drain. Check the dictionary and see if there's a word corresponding to "gratitude" in Pashto... Special U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Monday there must be significant changes in the leadership if a new government is to win broad support. Khalilzad urged all ethnic groups to put aside past rivalries and use the loya jirga to form a broad-based government. He said "significant" changes must occur for the transitional government to be accepted by most Afghans. However, some delegates complained that outsiders were usurping their authority. "It is for us to decide what role the king has," said an Afghan delegate to the loya jirga who uses only one name, Mirwais. "If we want or don't want the king, it is for us to decide and then the king can say whether he accepts or not." The king's decided he doesn't want to be head os state. He may realize that he's 87 years old and that each year his chances of seeing his next birthday decrease significantly. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 I've been of the opinion for quite some time that Zahir Shah, for all his manifest virtue, is simply too old, at 87, to resume the active role of head of state. Indeed, I'm even dubious about the "Father of the Nation" idea floated by Karzai, as mentioned above, being that it'd place all the burdens upon the old gentleman without the title to go with it. Nobody asked me, of course, and I doubt the loya jirga would pay any attention to me at all, but if, hypothetically speaking, they were in fact interested in restoring the monarchy after all, I'd counsel them to seek out Zahir Shah's heirs - he has several sons, and I'd imagine, grandsons as well - and judge their fitness to be king or head of state or Father of the Nation or what have you. Mind you, I've heard plenty of worse ideas in my time than establishing a constitutional monarchy in Afghanistan. I just don't think, based solely on his very advanced age, that Zahir Shah is the man to do it, I'm sorry to say. |
| Posted by: Joe 2002-06-11 15:40:49 |