Afghan Loya Jirga: A Florida-style Election Circus Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Afghan Loya Jirga: A Florida-Style Election Circus How very embarrassing for the US Freedom-dispensers, if anyone at all is paying attention anymore to what's going on in the former Talibanistan. (And, if any of the Bush Putsch gang are even capable of embarrassment.) Yesterday, they had to postpone the Loya Jirga, or supreme council, because "too many delegates showed up." (see second article below.) Today, Team USA's Designated Hitter put his foot in it by claiming -- err... "mistakenly declaring" -- that he was already the President by acclamation, apparently news to the delegates who had to fight to be accredited. We suppose THIS is the kind of "democracy" that the half-wit living illegitimately in the White House wishes to impose on Cuba... Reuters via Yahoo - June 11, 2002 Loya Jirga Tries Again to Appoint Afghan President by Sayed Salahuddin KABUL, June 11 (Reuters)--Afghanistan's tribal assembly will try again on Wednesday to appoint a president after the only declared candidate, interim leader Hamid Karzai, jumped the gun by mistakenly declaring that it had acclaimed him leader. Karzai's claim -- which he later acknowledged to have been an error -- added to the confusion and tension surrounding a much-heralded solemn meeting that had already been delayed by a day owing to factional bickering. The Loya Jirga, a traditional Afghan tribal parliament, is due to appoint a successor to the interim government that took office under a U.N.-brokered deal after U.S. air power helped opposition forces to drive out the Islamic Taliban. Former king Mohammad Zahir Shah announced at the opening of the meeting on Tuesday that he did not want to restore the monarchy and was putting his support behind Karzai. Support for Karzai's campaign also came from former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who withdrew his candidacy in favor of Karzai. The ex-king's words were greeted with a wave of applause and it appeared Karzai took this as a signal of being elected -- even though no vote had taken place -- rather than appreciation for Zahir Shah's statement. "The situation was confusing for us," Karzai's spokesman Yousuf Nooristani said. "Karzai thought the audience applause meant they were voting for him. Later he found out it was a mistake." But Karzai's claim added to the fears of supporters of the former king that their views were being suppressed and that the Loya Jirga was in effect no more than a talking shop set up to back the United States' favored candidate. Deep rifts have emerged between backers of the former king, seen by many as the father of the war-torn nation, and those of the Western-educated Karzai, who was once an American resident and is considered an American stooge by his opponents. The king's announcement that he was not running came hours after a U.S. envoy said he was stepping aside. This prompted speculation that he had been put under pressure. In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) told reporters: "I think we can see the Loya Jirga unfolding before our eyes. It seems to be representative of all the people of Afghanistan." Karzai's declaration that he had won the presidency came about when a Reuters correspondent asked him what he thought of the former king's support. "It is finished," he said. "The assembly has voted for me." Delegates streaming out of the tent housing the Loya Jirga expressed surprise and anger. "It was a total mockery," said one, who did not want to be identified. "Zahir Shah's support for Karzai does not mean that he has won. It was not a democratic and open atmosphere. Two women who wanted to speak were not allowed to do so." Nooristani said voting for the presidency would in fact start on Wednesday. The week-long Loya Jirga, entrusted with choosing a new government to run the war-torn country for the next 18 months, had already been delayed for a day because of bickering among the myriad factions over the role of the former king. The Loya Jirga, or Grand Council, is the first in nearly a quarter century and carries on a consultative system that the proudly independent Afghans have used for more than 1,000 years to settle affairs of the nation. "KARZAI IS MY CHOICE" In the statement that triggered the applause, Zahir Shah, aiming to show unity to the divided assembly, said: "I am ready to help the people, Hamid Karzai is my choice of candidate." Zahir Shah, ousted in a bloodless coup in 1973 after 40 years on the throne, returned to Afghanistan from self-imposed exile in Rome in April vowing to unite his people. A key question has been whether the Loya Jirga will confirm the power-sharing arrangement between Karzai, like the king a member of the majority Pashtun group, and the minority Tajiks and Uzbeks of the Northern Alliance that forms the core of the interim government. Pashtuns have complained of being discriminated against and sidelined by Northern Alliance figures and there is a long history of bloodbaths among the communities. Interior Minister Yunis Qanuni offered his resignation, which appeared to be aimed at soothing political tensions, and sources said Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah was also likely to quit. Both are Tajiks from the north, as is Rabbani. From Tuesday until June 16 delegates from the main regions, tribes, minorities and pressure groups will be consulted to reach a collective decision on the new government. The United States has been drawn into Afghan affairs since launching air attacks in October against the former Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The hard-line Taliban were swept from power late last year, paving the way for the Bonn accord that brought in Karzai. * Reuters via Yahoo - June 10, 2002 Afghan King Renounces Role as Loya Jirga Delayed By Sayed Salahuddin and Nick Macfie KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's grand assembly, or Loya Jirga, called to form a government after 23 years of conflict, has been delayed until Tuesday because too many delegates showed up for the historic event, a spokesman for the assembly said. Diplomats and officials say Afghan leaders were arguing about the role of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah in the future government, but the king said he was not a candidate for the top job and was not seeking to restore the monarchy. More than 2,000 Afghans showed up Monday at a German beer tent being used as a venue for the week-long assembly -- several hundred more than the 1,501 delegates accredited to participate in the Loya Jirga, spokesman Abdul Salam Rahimi said. The Loya Jirga Commission announced the assembly would be delayed until Tuesday, while it drew up a new list of delegates. "We are drawing up a final list of delegates who can vote," Rahimi said. "That is what we're working on." He told Reuters the mood among delegates was "very good, very optimistic." Asked if tempers were fraying, he said: "No." "We wanted to start on time, but it's more important to have the list of voting members." NO SECURITY PROBLEMS Officials denied earlier reports that gunmen from one of the factions in the interim government had staged a show of force at the venue. "There have been rumors about security problems," said Helen Widman, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that is keeping the peace in Kabul. "They are just not true," she told reporters. One delegate said there were no incidents inside the giant tent, where representatives are to be seated on finely woven Afghan rugs. "It's something to do with the carpets, or something like that," said Aman Ullah Haiderzad, a fine arts professor at Kabul University, commenting on the delay. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, senior adviser to Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai, told Reuters the arrival of delegates from around the country was posing huge logistical headaches in the capital, badly damaged in a quarter-century of conflict. KING SUPPORTS KARZAI Zahir Shah said Monday he did not want to restore the monarchy and was not a candidate to run the country. In a statement read by his spokesman, he said he wanted Karzai to stay on as head of government. "I don't seek to restore the monarchy. I'm not a candidate for the Loya Jirga," he said after holding talks with Karzai at his Kabul residence. "My goal is to serve my suffering nation. I fully support the candidacy of Mr. Karzai." Karzai said in response: "I'm very grateful and I will be faithful and loyal to him, as I have been in the past. The king has been, and will be, the father of the nation." Zahir Shah, 87, who returned to his war-shattered country in April after 29 years of self-exile in Rome, is scheduled to open the Loya Jirga, which will try to form a transitional government for the next 18 months ahead of general elections. Grass-roots support for the former king to play a figurehead role in the new government -- possibly as head of state -- has been growing, particularly among his fellow Pashtuns, the majority group in Afghanistan's ethnic cocktail, Afghan and foreign sources said. NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE Diplomats and Afghan officials said the king's supporters were arguing about a role for him with the Northern Alliance, which dominates Karzai's interim administration that is to give way to the new transitional government chosen by the assembly. The differences reflect a historical north-south divide in the country between the mostly ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and other minorities in the north who make up the Northern Alliance and the dominant Pashtuns of the south. For weeks, Afghan communities throughout the country have been choosing delegates to the Loya Jirga, while faction leaders involved in years of internal conflict have been feverishly trying to make backroom deals. The Northern Alliance, which spearheaded the ground attack against the fundamentalist Taliban, wants to keep key posts in the new government, and like the king, supports Karzai -- a Pashtun -- as leader of the new administration. But many delegates support the ailing Zahir Shah -- a Pashtun regarded by many Afghans as a father figure -- and say the country will find no stability without the former king in charge, one U.N. official said. A security cordon of armed vehicles has been placed around the Loya Jirga site and the ISAF, warning militants may try to disrupt the assembly, has stepped up helicopter patrols. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcov-06.11.02-23:15:12-3490