Suspicion and Protest Mark Run-Up to Afghan Grand Council

According to agreements brokered in December 2001 by the United Nations, Afghanistan must have a slate of delegates ready by June 9 to participate in the country's Emergency Loya Jirga, or grand legislative council. On June 6, the 21-member Special Independent Commission for Convening Loya Jirga tabled a vote on a final slate for 24 hours.

The commission's deliberation follows several days of confusion. "Some people speak angrily and have complaints," commission Chairman Ismael Qasimyar told EurasiaNet. " From some provinces, more delegates than have been allotted are coming and this creates myriad problems for us. We cannot give them more seats than are assigned them and we have no choice but to make our own selection." Hundreds of people have brought their grievances to the commission's Kabul office, gathering out front with complaints about the elections in their district. The most common complaint is of vote-buying. "Our problem is how the oversight people from UN could know if an election was carried out properly and no one has won by buying?" said Abdolhamid Shariati, who calls himself an "unelected member." "People live in a bad economy. Why not sell their votes for cash?"

If protestors like Shariati came to Kabul seeking attention, they are hardly the only ones. Influential figures like Herat governor Ismail Khan, Kandahar governor Gul Agha Shirzai and Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Rashid Dostum are coming to influence the final outcome of the Loya Jirga. Only Dostum, the unofficial head of the country's ethnic Uzbeks, has a confirmed seat. The other two planned to call on Qasimyar. The accords that established the Loya Jirga say that anyone can present himself or herself as a candidate for office during the council. But the warlords who control Afghanistan's provinces – and much of its trade – presumably want to be nominated with some degree of visible support.

On June 6, most decisions seemed well in hand. According to someone close to the Commission, the biggest issue – and the one that forced the commission to postpone the final list to Friday – is whether delegates would choose cabinet members or allow the President to choose the members of his cabinet.
This is a controversial issue because some Afghans worry that the Loya Jirga will preserve the government seats of the Panjsheri Tajiks who dominate the interim cabinet but represent an ethnic minority.

"I have heard some people are doing some secret work behind the scenes. They are working a coordinated plan to keep themselves in power," said Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as president before the Taliban took over the country in 1996. Rabbani, who is not allied with the former Northern Alliance members in the interim cabinet, worries about a power grab. "According to the constitution, Loya Jirga is the biggest and [most] important place to make a decision for our country," he told EurasiaNet. "When it comes to the decisions of the Loya Jirga, nobody is allowed to intervene, from the interim government to the UN."

Rabbani also worried that the Loya Jirga, which begins June 10 and had originally been expected to end June 16, might end up shorter than he would like. "I heard they want to change the timeframe also," he said. Like many Afghans jockeying for power, Rabbani appeals to his own parameters of legitimacy – he invoked an obsolete constitutional provision in our interview – but he also stressed that the Loya Jirga's decisions should determine law and government for the new state.

These days Qasimyar claims to spend more than 14 hours a day at his desk, trying to assemble an honorable council. Despite this punishing schedule and an endless stream of visitors from all over the country, he still manages to greet visitors with a smile. "I cannot remember when I last had a chance to eat something," he claimed during our interview. But, like Rabbani and all the other Afghan leaders rubbing elbows in Kabul, he claims to be interested in more historic efforts. "Don't forget we are coming out of 23 years of war," Qasimyar says. "Anywhere in the world you have an election, it is a challenging process. Given our problems, I would say the Loya Jirga election process has been going quite well. Perhaps better than most people would have expected."