AFGHANISTAN Blasts jolt Kabul as constitution talks continue

Several groups of delegates completed deliberations.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Two heavy explosions heard in downtown Kabul today were apparently caused by controlled blasts to destroy old weapons.
The blasts jolted a city already on alert during a landmark constitutional convention amid concerns that Taliban insurgents may try to target the meeting.
"We have some controlled explosions today," Lt. Col. Joerg Langer, a spokesman for the international peacekeeping force in Kabul, said after the explosions, heard at about 1:40 p.m. local time.
Kabul police could not confirm what caused the blasts, but also said they believed it was part of efforts to dispose of old weapons leftover from two decades of war.
The capital is on a high security footing as it hosts the constitutional council.
Rockets fired
Up to four rockets were fired into Kabul on Sunday night, one damaging a house in the north of the city but hurting no one.
Thousands of Afghan troops and foreign peacekeepers are providing security for the grand council, or loya jirga, which has brought together 500 delegates from around the country to debate a new constitution.
The loya jirga lurched toward progress Sunday as several groups of delegates working on a new national constitution completed deliberations that could give U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai the strong presidency that he wants.
Loya jirga chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi emerged from a big white tent on the western outskirts of Kabul to report that four of 10 committees had reached agreement on 160 articles in the country's proposed new constitution. By day's end, four other committees were done, but one, headed by former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was said to be deadlocked.
First signs of progress
Sunday's developments were the first signs of progress among the 502 delegates, meeting in secret in small groups beyond the scrutiny of United Nations or media representatives. They're midway through deliberations that are slated to conclude this week but may not.
"We hope that they will work fast and finish it as fast as possible," Mujaddedi said.
If loya jirga delegates end up backing a strong presidency, it would be a defeat for powerful regional warlords who want a parliament they might control. National elections are expected in June if delegates ratify the new constitution.
At a separate news conference Sunday, five delegates -- four from northern provinces controlled by Gen. Rashid Dostum, a leading warlord -- accused Karzai of seeking to impose a presidential system of governance on the delegates. One of the five said 100 delegates from 17 provinces had complained to Mujaddedi but were ignored.
Their grievances are over the participation of 52 unelected delegates appointed by Karzai and by the curtailing of all public deliberations last Wednesday in favor of private caucuses. Protesting delegates said that's allowing leaders to "hide from the people."
Denied reports
Karzai, who has strong backing from Western powers including the United States but has faced challenges from former president Rabbani, has denied reports that he was pressuring delegates to adopt a presidential system. He said before the loya jirga opened that he would only seek office if the constitution provided that system.
The 150 to 200 mujahedeen delegates to the loya jirga, who collectively form its largest single bloc, oppose a strong presidency and were rumored to be prepared to walk out en masse unless they obtained a parliamentary system.
All delegates have put a lot on the line just by gathering to debate the draft constitution. If it succeeds, Afghans may finally be able to live peaceably, unite around a common purpose, and reconstruct their crumbling homeland.
If the meeting fails, however, it could plunge the country back into the lawless strife that allowed the oppressive former Taliban ruling militia to seize power in the early 1990s following the expulsion of Soviet troops.
The Taliban allowed the country to be further exploited by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida terrorism network, which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Western targets, including the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
One of the five dissenting delegates who spoke Sunday, Anjineer Ahmad, warned civil war could resume if the constitution-writing process is unfair.