AFGHANISTAN: New Afghan President Mr Hamid Karzai failed to break an impasse in the Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, over forming a parliament and naming a cabinet to take the country to general elections in 18 months.
In an eagerly awaited speech to some 1,600 delegates, Mr Karzai dodged the two issues that have bogged down the assembly in hot debate for days: composition of a legislature and the line-up of his new broad-based cabinet.
Mr Karzai said only that he wants a transparent and accountable government with public participation and a series of commissions and advisers to guide him through the 18-month transition period to general elections.
"Afghanistan should move towards a pluralist government," he said, wearing his trademark lamb-skin hat and a western jacket. "Afghans should participate and share in government decisions and they have to be informed," he added.
Mr Karzai was speaking after days of sometimes tempestuous speeches by Loya Jirga members.
The UN-sponsored assembly, which convened last Tuesday, is part of an effort to restore peace and stability after 23 years of chaos and war. But some delegates were frustrated at the pace of proceedings.
During the morning, most delegates drifted out of the big, white tent that houses the rare convocation of Afghanistan's traditional parliament, saying nothing was getting done.
"There's no point hanging around listening to boring speeches so we're leaving," said delegate Mr Sayed Nimatullah.
He said fresh fighting could erupt in the ethnically divided country if the assembly failed to agree on key issues, such as a new parliament.
A foreign ministry spokesman said delegates left the tent to take a break.
Delegates were trying to decide between an assembly based on geographic representation and one based on the Loya Jirga's composition. The issue, like so many others in Afghan society, seemed to reflect the country's north-south divide.
Ethnic minorities from northern Afghanistan support a proposal by Loya Jirga chairman Mr Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar that each group of 10 Loya Jirga delegates nominate one member of parliament. But the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group from the south, favoured another suggestion from Mr Qasimyar that two representatives from each province be chosen.
The sticking point is that no two provinces have the same size of population. Rural provinces would be better represented under the two-representatives-per-province proposal.
The Loya Jirga, based on an ancient Afghan tradition, has gathered delegates from all walks of life across the country and overseas, from Afghan-Americans in business suits to Muslim mullahs in turbans.
But some delegates have said the US and the UN are pulling strings behind the scenes and they see a US hand in Mr Karzai's election as president, the only real decision so far.
They say Washington wants to keep the balance of power in the government between the ethnic Uzbek and Tajik-led Northern Alliance - US allies in the war against the former Taliban rulers - and the Pashtuns of the south, who include Mr Karzai. Some delegates have also complained of intimidation by former warlords and provincial governors. "Governors and officials are telling people what to say in their speeches," delegate Mullah Abdul Karim said.
The US military flew 34 more al-Qaeda and Taliban captives from Afghanistan to the US naval base at Guantanamo in Cuba during the weekend, bringing the prisoner population at the base to 536, a US official said yesterday.They are being held at Camp Delta which replaced Camp X-Ray in April.