New Afghan constitution agreed

Afghans approved an historic new constitution today – two years after the fall of the Taliban.

The charter installed a presidential system that the country’s US-backed interim leader Hamid Karzai says is critical to holding together a country savaged by more than two decades of war.

But the torturous weeks of haggling also kicked up a cloud of ethnic mistrust that could cast a shadow over this summer’s landmark national elections and hamper efforts to disarm militia leaders well-placed to influence the vote.

Leaders were determined to play down the rift as weary delegates gathered for the last time in the huge white tent that housed the marathon grand council, or loya jirga.

The constitution was ratified only after last-ditch deals brokered with the help of UN and US diplomats granting recognition to minority languages alongside Pashto and Dari.

In a speech wrapping up the session, Karzai pledged to learn Uzbek, the language at the group that almost scuttled the accord, and challenged rivals to campaign for votes in his own Pashtun heartland.

“Finally we are successful, and I am very happy to see this day,” Karzai said. “This is the success of the whole Afghan nation … We should respect it, we should implement it.”

US President George W Bush said the constitution will help ensure that “terror finds no further refuge” in the nation.

“A democratic Afghanistan will serve the interests and just aspirations of all of the Afghan people and help ensure that terror finds no further refuge in that proud land,” Bush said in a statement.

Karzai and his American allies made compromises to Islamic hardliners and clipped the far-reaching presidential powers he had pushed for in the face of opposition from regional faction leaders.

Khalilzad insisted the agreement still enshrined a ”strong presidency”.

To lighten the mood after the deal was in the bag, children in traditional dress from around the country took to the stage to sing patriotic songs, waving Afghan and UN flags.

At the council chairman’s behest, the delegates then rose in unison and stood in solemn silence for about 30 seconds to signal their approval of the draft.

But there was no final vote, and no applause.

Sidiq Chakari, a Tajik delegate and spokesman for former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a political survivor and potential rival to Karzai, said the deal was a milestone on the way to peace.

“It’s a very big achievement. I do hope it will bring friendship between our ethnic groups,” Chakari said. ”Everybody wants to switch to disarmament and reconstruction.”

The charter was amended to grant official status to northern minority languages where they are most commonly spoken, an issue which had brought the meeting close to collapse.

Some Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group, had pressed until the last for the charter to reverse what they say is the domination of Dari names for public institutions such as universities and courts.

But they went along in the end.

“It will help demilitarise the capital and inject new freedom into education, the media, normal life,” said Khalid Pashtun, a fervent advocate of his kinsmen’s rights.

A new commission is to be set up to monitor implementation of the constitution - another potential power base for a rival.

But with no provision for a prime minister or strong regional councils, the wide-ranging powers sought by Karzai in a draft released in November appeared to have survived mainly intact.

The charter makes the president commander in chief of the armed forces, charges him with determining the nation’s fundamental policies and gives him considerable power to press legislation.

“The president will be powerful, the decisions will be his,” Karzai said, claiming that parliament would be there mainly “to help if he makes any mistakes.”

Observers said it was vital for the constitution to command broad support, and analysts have voiced concern that Karzai’s reliance on Pashtun support could sully his standing in the eyes of minorities.

That could make it more difficult to push ahead with other aspects of the UN-sponsored peace drive, especially disarming of the unruly factions that control much of the country.

The world body has warned that taming the factions, and persuading some of the estimated 100,000 militia fighters still roaming the country to return to civilian life, is essential to prevent intimidation from spoiling the presidential elections scheduled for June.