Global Policy Forum

By Carlotta Gall

Delegates at a national meeting approved a new Constitution for Afghanistan on Sunday, concluding three weeks of often tense debate. Their decision heralded a new era of democracy after a quarter-century of war. "There is rain coming, and flowers are growing from my body," said the chairman of the grand council, Sebaghatullah Mojadeddi, reciting a poem. "I am so happy the ending is so pious and beautiful," he added, his voice cracking as he apologized for any failings in the result.

For the first time, Afghans have set up a democratic presidential system, with a directly elected president and a two-chamber national assembly; elections are to be held in just six months. An independent judiciary is also being organized. In a carefully balanced wording, the country will be renamed the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, combining democracy and religion. There is to be a system of civil law, but no law will be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of Islam. The 502 delegates from all over Afghanistan who have been assembled in a vast white tent in Kabul Polytechnic approved the Constitution by acclamation. They said prayers, then rose and stood in silent respect.

The new bedrock of the government was welcomed by Afghan human rights and women's activists as offering the prospect of the rule of law in the ravaged country. Diplomats and foreign experts who have been here to observe the process also praised it for being coherent and even forward looking for the region.

In Washington, President Bush welcomed the new Constitution, saying in a statement that it would "help ensure that terror finds no further refuge" in Afghanistan. The Americans hope the new arrangements will provide a stronger government that can help Afghanistan rebuild after the war that defeated the Taliban government that had befriended Osama bin Laden.

The United Nations special representative here, Lakhdar Brahimi, who helped in last-minute mediation, was the first to congratulate the assembly. "Is the Constitution perfect? Probably not," Mr. Brahimi told delegates. "Will it be criticized? I feel it will be, inside Afghanistan and outside Afghanistan. But you have every reason to be proud and see this as a new source of hope."

There had been long battles in the assembly and committee rooms over the three weeks right up to the last moment, but delegates over all said they accepted the final draft. The grand council, or loya jirga, added some checks and balances to the presidential powers, giving the Parliament a veto over senior appointments and over some policy decisions, and it gave broad language rights to the ethnic minorities in their own regions. In addition, women were given recognition as equal citizens, and 25 percent of the seats of the lower house of Parliament were set aside for them.

President Hamid Karzai arrived to congratulate the assembly, his helicopter drowning out the discourse as it circled to land. Security was so tight that the president did not drive the one mile from his office. But his mood was elated as he talked about a future of unity, prosperity and the rule of law, and celebrated an Afghanistan where a poor boy like himself could grow up to be president, and where tribal and ethnic rivalries could become a thing of the past. "It is a Constitution of all the country," he said. "None of you is the loser; none of you is the winner. It is a success for us all, for all the people of Afghanistan." He praised the policy that identifies all the country's various ethnic groups as parts of the nation, and has allowed them the freedom to use and teach their languages in the areas where they are the majority. "That was a great initiative," he said. "It's the first time in the history of Afghanistan that we take a step for the real power of the people," Mr. Karzai said. "In this Constitution, you gave the right for other languages to be studied, and it's a good creation for all the people." The American ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, called it "one of the most enlightened constitutions in the Islamic world."

But Mr. Brahimi acknowledged that the three weeks had been bruising. "This is a huge success for the people of Afghanistan," he said. "But in the process there were a lot of bruises, not just for the Pashtuns but others as well. It is up to everyone to make sure they build on it." Mr. Brahimi said that despite Sunday's accomplishment, the biggest challenges lie ahead. He lamented the insecurity that ordinary Afghans experience as a result of warlords and their armies and corrupt commanders and the police. Delegates gave him loud applause.

Many interviewed said the most important thing now was the disarmament and demilitarization of the country. "On the whole it is a good Constitution," said one delegate, Abdul Latif Amiri, from Kandahar. "It will change things if implemented, but at the moment it is not possible to implement it as there are still arms all over the country." The ethnic divisions that obstructed the loya jirga were resolved with persuasion but also some strong-arm negotiations in private.

Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the leader of the Uzbeks and a warlord with a notorious reputation, pushed hard for the language rights of the Uzbek and Turkman people and succeeded. But Mr. Karzai announced that the government had exacted a promise from him in return: that he allow the thousands of Pashtuns displaced from the north in the last two years to return to their homes, and to free the remaining hundreds of Taliban prisoners being held in General Dostum's hometown, Shiberghan. The Pashtuns held an emotional meeting Sunday morning as leaders urged the rank and file to accede to the convention's decision not to designate Pashto as the sole national language. It had that status in past constitutions, providing a source of pride for the Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan. "We have all been forced to accept it," Hamidullah Tarzi, a delegate from the southern city of Kandahar, said after the meeting. "It's as if we have taken poison, but for the unity of our country we accept it." Mr. Karzai praised his fellow Pashtuns for dropping their language demand, saying: "World power comes from unity, not from discord, but unity, valor and courage. You have displayed it." He then congratulated the Uzbeks on their new status, speaking in their language.

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