KABUL, 26 December 2003 — The United Nations compound in the Afghan capital of Kabul was struck by an explosion early yesterday morning, the UN and the international peacekeeping force in Kabul reported. According to a press statement issued by the International Security Assistance Force, the explosion occurred 500 meters south of the ISAF headquarters on a residential street.
UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, that the blast damaged the outer wall of the compound and broke windows. Almeida said six UN staff were living in the compound and four of them were present at the time of the explosion. “No casualties have been reported and ISAF troops are on the scene investigating,” the press statement said.
The ISAF said the blasts did not hit the venue for talks in the country’s grand assembly (Loya Jirga) or the facilities of the International Security Assistance Force.
The blast happened as more than 500 delegates in the grand assembly debate the contents of a new constitution. Leaders of the former ruling Taleban have urged participants to boycott the meeting. Toppled by a US-led military coalition in late 2001, the Taleban warned that they would disrupt the Loya Jirga, stating that those attending it deserved to die.
Afghan monarchists have thrown their support behind President Hamid Karzai and his vision of a strong presidential system in a constitution being debated in Kabul, a member of the royalist camp said yesterday.
The pro-monarchy faction claims the support of nearly 80 delegates out of 502 at the Loya Jirga, which since Dec. 14 has been debating a draft constitution that outlines sweeping powers for the president.
“Our executive council held a meeting with our delegates,” said Hakim Noorzai, a staunch supporter of Afghanistan’s former King Muhammad Zahir Shah, who was given the symbolic title of “father of the nation” in the draft document.
“We discussed both proposed systems and we reached a conclusion to go for the presidential system, as this is what Afghanistan needs,” he told Reuters.
A strong parliamentary system would be harmful for Afghanistan, as “warlords” still controlled large swathes of the country and would influence it, Noorzai said, when asked why the group had decided to back Karzai.
Royalists draw most of their support from the largest ethnic group, the Pushtuns, to which Karzai belongs and which traditionally rules Afghanistan. Karzai insists that, as Afghanistan emerges from 23 years of invasion and civil war, the country needs centralized power for the sake of unity amongst its various ethnic clans.
The 46-year-old Karzai, installed to power with the help of the United States after the fall of the Taleban in 2001, needs a simple majority at the Loya Jirga to win his way.
His opponents, mainly from the Northern Alliance of former anti-Soviet Mujahedeen, argue that sweeping powers would create a despotic regime that could damage national unity.
They are led by former President Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek strongman who also serves as Karzai’s adviser on military and security issues. They want the constitution to include the position of prime minister, which Karzai fears could compromise his control.
The dissenters say Karzai has used ministers to secure delegates’ votes in return for promises of cabinet posts in the future government. Several opponents of Karzai have threatened not to sign the final draft of the document, saying a boycott would challenge its legitimacy.
It is unlikely, however, that there will be enough dissenters to force major changes to the draft constitution.
Karzai has refused to compromise on his demands for a strong presidential system and delegates remained divided. A committee set up to reconcile the conflicting views of Karzai and powerful faction leaders was itself split over whether the country should have a presidential or parliamentary system.
A member of the committee told reporters it had finished its work but could not reach agreement on 14 of the 160 articles in the draft constitution.
“The reconciliation committee has finished its work,” Ayatullah Mohseni said. The committee was printing sections of the draft which needed to be changed or discussed by the delegates or voted on, he said, without elaborating on the points of contention.
