KABUL, 27 January 2004 — President Hamid Karzai signed into law Afghanistan’s new Constitution yesterday, more than three weeks after a grand assembly, officially enshrining a presidential system of government for the country, approved the document.
The president, surrounded by members of his Cabinet, the former King Mohammad Zahir Shah and members of the international community, signed a decree, which promulgated the Constitution at a brief ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.
After signing the decree, Karzai turned to those around him and said “congratulations”.
“I declare and enact the new Constitution which was unanimously adopted in 12 chapters and 162 articles by the historic loya jirga (grand assembly) convened in the city of Kabul between Dec. 13, 2003 and Jan. 4, 2004,” the decree states.
It said the Constitution should guide Afghanistan in “observing the provisions of the sacred religion of Islam, to strong national unity, the realization of democratic goals, building a civil society and... ensure peace, equity and brotherhood within the Afghan nation.” On Saturday, Karzai said he was waiting for linguistic and grammatical errors to be removed from the 162-article document first before signing it.
