Afghanistan may adopt powerful presidency

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 22, 2003

Afghanistan may adopt powerful presidency

Discussions in Afghanistan's historic constitutional convention appeared to be nearing a conclusion yesterday, amid signs that the war-ravaged country will adopt a powerful presidency.

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Discussions in Afghanistan's historic constitutional convention appeared to be nearing a conclusion yesterday, amid signs that the war-ravaged country will adopt a powerful presidency.

Some 500 delegates at the loya jirga, or grand council, are talking over a draft charter presented by President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government. The draft foresees a tolerant Islamic state under a strong chief executive.

A new constitution is supposed to pave the way for national elections in mid-2004, crowning a two-year drive to stabilize the country after more than two decades of conflict.

In a progress report at the start of the jirga's eighth day, Deputy Chairman Qaimddin Kashaf said three of the 10 groups of delegates had completed article-by-article discussions. "I'm very pleased with their hard work," Kashaf said. "I hope that all the others will finish today."

Council leaders must still decide which recommendations from the 10 committees should be incorporated into the draft, which would then need ratification in a vote by the whole assembly. No end date has been set for the gathering.

Karzai said on Saturday he hoped the council, meeting in an enormous tent on a Kabul college campus, would finish its work by the end of the year.

Officials have been tightlipped about the details of discussions on issues such as human rights and how to divide power in a country used to fighting for it.

But US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday the council appears to favour setting up a strongly centralized presidency.

"At this stage, it looks like there is a preference for a presidential system," he told reporters.

Karzai argues that the country needs clear, stable leadership to rebuild after decades of war.

Still, some delegates are calling for a parliamentary system with an influential prime minister so that power is more widely spread in a country riven with ethnic rivalries.

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