KABUL, Jan 27: With the traditional pastoral life of Afghanistan's nomads having been largely destroyed in recent years many are welcoming new constitutional provisions to give them a chance of a more settled existence.

"Our ancestors didn't know any better, they were roaming the desert and spending all their money on animals which would die," reckons 60-year-old Chaman Gul Kuchi, who squats with around 40 other Kuchi families in a cluster of mud-huts in west Kabul.

"We do not want to buy animals any more and want to settle down." The years of conflict made Chaman's previous pastoral life - moving between Jalalabad in the winter and Kabul in the summer - all but impossible and he was forced to sell his flock of 40 sheep.

For the last two years he has eked out an existence as a daily labourer and construction worker in the capital. Indeed the Kuchis, as the local nomads of Pakhtoon origin are known, have been singled out by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) as one of the largest vulnerable populations in Afghanistan.

For not only has the fighting forced many into squalid camps both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the droughts of recent years have taken a terrible toll on their remaining stock.

Now Article 14 of the new constitution obliges the state to implement effective programmes for "improving the economic, social and living conditions" of nomads as well as adopting "necessary measures for housing and distribution of public estates to deserving citizens".

In purely practical terms, undersecretary at the Ministry of Borders and Tribal Affairs which takes responsibility for matters relating to Kuchis - Mohammad Omar Babrakzai fears that the requirements are too vaguely worded.

"It should have been written without the wording in accordance with its financial resources. How could the government not have the financial ability? All lands belong to the government." However, Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai, the national leader of the Kuchis and also one of the community's eleven special representatives at the Constitutional Loya Jirga, insists everything promised will follow in due course.

"After the presidential election (scheduled for June) when the budget of the government is allocated and the Kuchi numbers are counted (under the new census) the government will take the necessary steps."

Indeed putting a number on the Kuchi community is a major task in itself with estimates varying wildly. Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai himself puts the figure as high as six million out of a total population in Afghanistan of between 20 and 25 million.

Mohammad Omar Kuchi, 30, who lives in the same cluster of huts as Chaman Gul, is one of those who would seize the chance to be part of such schemes. "If the government distributes land for houses to us and assists us with flour then we are ready to provide any sort of service they want," Omar told IWPR.

There are others, however, who remain attached to a more traditional Kuchi existence. Wals Mir laments that he was forced to sell his animals that had not already died and he would now like to see government funding to replace them.

But he points to an additional problem now faced - powerful people taking over traditional pastoral lands and blocking Kuchis entry. "In summer our place was in the Panjshir, in the winter Laughman and now the commanders dominate in both places," he laments.

Nasrullah Khan, a community leader in the Ghazni province, argues that if traditional nomad pursuits are lost it will affect the country as a whole. "If Kuchis give up their nomadic lifestyle then I think it would damage the economy of Afghanistan very much, because it is Kuchis who produce meat, milk, butter and Karakul (sheepskin from new born lambs.)"

And there are those who can see the advantage of a foot in both worlds. "We want land from the government for the construction of houses," says Babrak Khan who acts as a representative for the Kuchis of the Baghlan province. "But we will also keep our nomad lifestyle. If we have houses and animals our lives will be better."

The constitution provides other special concessions for Kuchis, including "effective programmes for balancing and promoting of education" of nomads, considering the community's lack of literacy even by Afghanistan's already low standards.

Seyed Hossein Ishraq Hosseini, undersecretary at the Education Ministry, confirmed to IWPR that it was now planning special summer and winter classes to meet the Kuchis migrational patterns.

Dormitory accommodation to provide older students with continuity of education is also being considered and increasing the number of teachers from the Kuchi community will be a priority.

The other important provision is that the president will choose two special Kuchi representatives _ disabled people are the other group thus singled out _ to sit in one of the two chambers of parliament, the House of Elders (Meshrano Jirga).

This was a hard fought for addition to the draft constitution at the recent Loya Jirga, at which there were 11 special seats _ nine elected and two put forward by President Hamid Karzai _ for Kuchis.

There is, however, some continuing unhappiness at the numbers of Kuchi representatives both in parliament and at the Loya Jirga with some arguing that they should be much higher to be truly representative.

Babrakzai reckons that they should have had at least 96 of the 502 seats at the Loya Jirga. And more ominously Hasti Khan, who represented Kuchis in the northeastern zone at the Loya Jirga, threatens a community boycott of elections if the numbers are not doubled.

"We did not agree at the Loya Jirga to having two representatives for Kuchis in the national assembly and demanded from chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddidi and the head of the secretariat Farooq Wardak that the Kuchis should have at least four delegates." Wahidullah Amani is an independent journalist in Kabul