KABUL, 13 December 2003 — Men, women, war heroes and tribal elders will begin thrashing out the draft of Afghanistan’s first post-Taleban constitution tomorrow under blanket security here, amid UN warnings that violence and factional power struggles threaten the final step on the path to democracy.

Originally scheduled for Wednesday and delayed to today, the opening of the Loya Jirga (grand assembly) has now been postponed to tomorrow. “For technical reasons the Loya Jirga has been postponed to Sunday,” Farooq Wardak, director of the constitutional commission secretariat, said. Wardak said the opening had been delayed as some delegates had not yet arrived.

Two years after the hard-line Taleban regime was ousted by US-led forces, a total of 500 delegates will attend the Loya Jirga in a large white tent in the grounds of Kabul’s polytechnic. Security is extremely tight with troops from the new Afghan National Army, international peacekeepers, police and secret service agents combining to thwart any attacks by Taleban militants threatening to disrupt the event.

Loya Jirga delegates, who include around 100 women, will have to determine the delicate question of how large a role Islam, the national religion, will play in the new constitution that is to replace the current 1964 document.

They will also debate the role of women, human rights and balance of power between the central government and provinces. In the current draft, power is concentrated in the president, a move opposed by many powerful Mujahedeen (anti-Soviet fighters) factions who dominate the delegates and are in favor of a prime minister to serve as a counterbalance.

Other regional governors and warlords are in favor of a more federal system which would effectively recognize their de facto autonomy.

President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly said he would only stand in next year’s elections if the Loya Jirga agrees to the proposed strong presidential system. “In countries where there are no strong institutions, in countries where there’s remnants of a conflict still there, we need a system that will run with one centrality, not many centers of power,” Karzai said Wednesday.

Drawn up in April and only released to the public in November, the 160-article draft envisages a presidential system based on democratic principles united under the laws of moderate Islam. If approved, it will pave the way for presidential polls scheduled for June, to be followed by elections for the legislature.

UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has warned that a new constitution, on its own, is not a panacea for Afghanistan’s wealth of problems as it emerges from decades of conflict and battles violent Taleban militants.

“Insecurity would still be a looming menace, and the narrow popular base of the government a source of popular dissatisfaction amongst large sections of the Afghan population,” he said in a report circulated to the Afghan cabinet and diplomats this week.

US Special Forces soldiers Thursday killed four people who fired on troops after they had captured “a couple of people” in Jalalabad, 120 kilometers east of Kabul, US military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said. Hilferty did not provide any details about the people captured by US forces but the Nangarhar provincial authorities said they included an Afghan militia commander and his men from neighboring Laghman province.