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DOZENS OF AFGHAN LOYA JIRGA DELEGATES WALK OUT, SAY ANGRY AT LACK OF FREE VOTE MORE ...

Uncertainty on the election of a head of the State Tuesday June 11, 2002 - 15h12 GMT KABUL, June 11 (AFP) - Afghanistan, which started Tuesday its Loya Jirga, kind of traditional constituent assembly, was not sure to have a head of the State Tuesday evening. At the time of a difficult explanation of text, at the end of the inaugural session, the president of the commission of organization of Loya Jirga, Mohammad Ismael Qasimyar, said at the same time that Hamid Karzaï "had been confirmed" at its station "in an adequate way", and that work of Wednesday could...

Loya Jirga will be probably again pushed back Tuesday June 11, 2002 - 8h29 GMT KABUL, June 11 (AFP) - the opening envisaged Tuesday of Loya Jirga, the traditional assembly which must indicate a new government in Afghanistan, will be probably again delayed one day, because of the continuation of the polemic on the role that will have to play former king Mohammed Zaher Shah, said a person in charge to the AFP. "We doubt that it (Loya Jirga) is held today because the partisans of the king are upset by (play) that (the American emissary for Afghanistan Zalmay)...

Role of the former king: threaten of withdrawal of deputy in Loya Jirga Tuesday June 11, 2002 - 6h03 GMT KABUL, June 11 (AFP) - a delegate in Loya Jirga affirmed that "many delegates" threatened to withdraw themselves some as of the opening of the assembly, Tuesday, to protest against the advertisement, according to them which had with American pressures, that former king Zaher Shah would not be candidate at the post of head of the State. The decision of the former monarch announced Monday shocked many of its partisans, declared with the AFP Faizal Ahmad, delegated central province...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jun 10, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- The loya jirga, the grand council called to organize a new government and give war-weary Afghans hope for a peaceful future, was in trouble even before it was to begin Monday. The 1,550 delegates, among them 200 women, were to convene Monday morning to begin the task of electing a head of state, deciding the framework of the transitional government and naming ministers to key posts. The new government will lead for 18 months pending elections. Late Sunday, however, diplomatic sources said the opening session had been postponed until...