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KABUL, June 9: Afghanistan’s former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has thrown his support behind interim ruler Hamid Karzai, who is widely expected to be named leader of the next government at this week’s Loya Jirga grand assembly.
“He no doubt considers Karzai as the right person to head the transitional period,” the former monarch’s spokesman, Amin Sediq, said.
The Loya Jirga, made up of 1,501 delegates, many of whose tribal rivalries go back centuries, opens on Monday with the task of picking a government to rule for the next two years.
Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim said on Saturday his Northern Alliance faction, which holds key posts in Karzai’s interim administration, wanted Karzai to stay put and the urbane, Western-educated former businessman is widely considered to be the front runner for leader.
A key question has been whether the Loya Jirga will confirm the power-sharing arrangement between Karzai, from the majority Pakhtoon ethnic group, and the powerful ethnic minority Tajiks and Uzbeks of the Northern Alliance.
Zahir Shah, who is also a Pakhtoon, ruled Afghanistan for 40 years before being ousted in a coup in 1973. He returned home from exile in Rome in April.
RECALCITRANT TRIBAL LEADERS: But the danger is the assembly may become a target for remnants of the former ruling Taliban or Al Qaeda. There are also fears that it might be disrupted by recalcitrant tribal leaders unhappy with the new cabinet lineup.
The United States launched strikes on Afghanistan in October to flush out Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect in the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and punish his Taliban protectors.
Karzai was installed as transitional leader for six months after the collapse of the Taliban in December.
A renegade warlord and a staunch supporter of the royal family, Padshah Khan Zadran, warned on Saturday, the relative stability restored after 23 years of war would be shattered if the former king was not elected leader.
But Amin said the former king was not a candidate for leader.
“His majesty has said that he has not come for power, but let me repeat that the decision lies with the delegates and he has said that he would honour whatever role people want him to have in the government.”
WOMEN AND WARLORDS: Women, warlords, professionals and other delegates have begun arriving in Kabul for the six days of debate to be held under a marquee festooned with Afghan carpets and cushions.
Afghan and foreign peacekeepers belonging to 18 nations are responsible for the security of the event, a traditional decision-making assembly of the Pakhtoons, who had ruled the strife-stricken country for nearly three centuries until the Soviet invasion of 1979.
The foreign troops will throw a ring of security around Kabul and surrounding districts with armoured vehicles and helicopter patrols. Journalists will be allowed in only for the inauguration and closing session.—Reuters
