Afghan council delayed after row over ex-king

The loya jirga, the grand council called to organise a new government and give war-weary Afghans hope for a peaceful future, has been postponed over differences about the future role of the former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah.

The 1,550 delegates, among them 200 women, were to convene today to begin the task of electing a head of state, deciding the framework of the transitional government and naming ministers to key posts. The new government will lead for 18 months pending elections.

Hours before the meeting, however, diplomatic sources said the opening session had been postponed until mid-afternoon because of differences over Zaher Shah, who is to convene the loya jirga.

The former Northern Alliance, which wields most of the power in the current interim administration, but is dominated by ethnic minorities, opposes any formal role for Zaher Shah in the next government.

Zaher Shah, who returned to his homeland last April after 29 years in exile, has been touted as the man who can unify Afghanistan, fractured by decades of war that has given rise to bitter ethnic differences.

Ethnic Tajiks, who dominate the former alliance, are in power today and Afghanistan’s largest community, the Pashtuns, has been largely sidelined because it is the ethnic group of the deposed Taliban.

Since the Taliban was driven from power last year by the United States and its Northern Alliance allies, many Pashtuns have complained of discrimination and brutality at the hands of the Tajiks.

When the Taliban ruled, they sidelined the country’s minority ethnic groups too. Before them, the Tajiks squandered their first opportunity at rule when they sidelined ethnic Pashtuns after the pro-Communist government collapsed in 1992.

‘‘People say they have learned their lessons, but they haven’t learned any lessons. Everyone just wants power. Now they will try to hold on to power, and there will be fighting - again,’’ sighed Musa Jan, a businessman in Kabul. ‘‘We want the loya jirga to get rid of all these leaders. We want new ones.’’

Many Afghans say they want the former king because there was peace in Afghanistan during his 40-year rule that ended in 1973 when he was deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud.

Although an ethnic Pashtun, his popularity appears to cross all ethnic lines. Although he said he wanted no official role, he never ruled one out.

Procedures and rules for the loya jirga are as fluid and uncertain as the future of the country itself.

As of last night, it was still unclear whether votes will be by a show of hands or secret ballot. It was not even certain whether there will be a single head of state and government or whether the positions will be divided.

‘‘God willing, we will be witnessing the loya jirga - the great manifestation of the will of the Afghan people,’’ said Ismail Qasim Yar, chairman of the commission that organised the meeting.

However, the process has already been tainted by accusations of influence peddling, attempts to buy delegates and the addition of 50 new delegates chosen to accommodate demands of some powerful warlords who had first been excluded.

‘‘As hard, difficult, complicated, sometimes frustrating as the job has been these past couple months, the real work will start on Monday,’’ said Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan.