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KABUL, Oct 6: Afghanistan has taken a step closer to forming a democratically elected parliament following the formation of a committee to draft a new constitution.
The nine-member committee, announced late Saturday, will be chaired by Afghan Vice President Namatullah Sharani and is expected to produce its final draft for approval next year.
The current Afghan interim government under President Hamid Karzai is charged with the task of producing and adopting the new constitution as part of the Bonn agreement struck last December following the fall of the Taliban regime.
The new legislation is expected to lay the groundwork for parliamentary elections within two years.
Former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah is due to oversee the drafting commission, which includes two women, ahead of the constitution’s adoption at a special Loya Jirga.
Afghanistan is currently using a constitution drawn up in 1964 when Zahir Shah was still in power. The former monarch returned to Afghanistan earlier this year 29 years after he was deposed in a coup.
The move to draw up a fresh constitution was hailed on Sunday by the United Nations’ special representative for Afghanistan as a positive step towards establishing a lasting peace after 23 years of conflict.
“After two decades of war and instability, the new constitution is to provide a strong legal foundation for the ongoing effort to reconstruct the country, re-build institutions, prevent the recurrence of social conflict and achieve national reconciliation,” Lakhdar Brahimi said in a statement.
CEASEFIRE: The United Nations has managed to secure a ceasefire in northern Afghanistan following a resurgence in factional fighting in which at least three people were killed, a spokesman said on Sunday.
Manoel e Almeida de Silva said fighting in Samangan province between supporters of Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostam and warlord Atta Mohammad had ceased following the latest round of negotiations.
He said a UN Security Commission team had gone to the Piruz Nakshir area after the fighting, described as a localised power struggle, forced families to flee.
“The ceasefire continues to hold and the initial reports are that the people who fled are going back to their homes,” e Almeida de Silva told reporters, describing the situation as “tense”.
Last week the UN said three people had been killed in clashes around the Dara-i-Suff area of Samangan over a change in security forces in the area.—AFP
