KABUL, Jan 26: President Hamid Karzai signed into law Afghanistan's new constitution on Monday, more than three weeks after the document was approved by a Loya Jirga , officially enshrining a presidential system of government for the country.

The president, surrounded by members of his cabinet, the former king Mohammad Zahir Shah ISAF commander Gen Gotz Gliemeroth and UN's Special Representative for Afghanistan Jean Arnault, signed a decree which promulgated the constitution at a brief ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

After signing the decree, President 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 13th December, 2003 and 4th January, 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, Mr Karzai said he was waiting for linguistic and grammatical errors to be removed from the 162-article document first before signing it. The constitution provides a strong presidential system of government for the war-wracked country, backed up by a bicameral parliament. It also states that Afghanistan is an Islamic nation and that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam".

The constitution paves the way for Afghanistan's first democratic elections in June and states that men and women have equal rights and duties and that a certain proportion of parliamentary representatives must be women, significant admissions in conservative Afghanistan. The final text of the constitution distributed on Monday in the Dari language is faithful to the text adopted on Jan 4 except for two notable articles.

Article 92 on the powers of the National Assembly (Wolesi Jirga) stipulates that the body can interrupt a parliamentary session to demand an explanation from a minister based on a proposal accepted by 20 per cent of members, and not the 10 per cent stated in the Jan 4 text.

And Article 64 on the powers of the president affirms in the final version that the president determines "the fundamental policies of the state with the approval of the National Assembly".

Hotly contested during the last days of the Loya Jirga, this article had been differently interpreted. Some supporters of President Karzai said that the agreement of the National Assembly was limited to foreign policy and the president did not need parliamentary agreement for domestic issues.

According to several diplomatic sources contacted by AFP, in its final wording the article substantially reduces the power of the president and leaves his governance open to the possibility of being blocked by parliament.

The constitution, provided for under the Bonn peace accords drawn up after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, was hammered out during three weeks of intense negotiations at the Loya Jirga. However, the process threatened to disintegrate several times due to hundreds of the 500 delegates boycotting the process and factional and ethnic divides within the assembly.

The final deal was brokered with the assistance of foreign mediators and received international support when it was approved by the Loya Jirga on Jan 4.-AFP