Word: loya
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Shah, sought backing for his plan to set up an interim supreme council headed by the former monarch. Under Gailani's plan, after the Taliban fell, a council chaired by the King would assume power, backed by a U.N. security force from Muslim countries. The council would call a loya jirga, the traditional representative political gathering, to write a constitution acceptable to all ethnic groups within the framework of Islamic law. Speaker after speaker embraced the proposal and vowed unity. But the airy talk could not paper over the rifts and disagreements that make putting together a new government...
...benighted Afghanistan when that time comes? "There's not a specific plan," admits a State Department spokesman. However, in the back rooms of the world's capitals, an outline is beginning to emerge. The U.N. helped persuade the ousted King to convene a grand assembly, traditionally known as a loya jirga. Three weeks ago, Zahir, who has broad support among his fellow Pashtun, met with representatives of the Northern Alliance in Rome and made a deal under which together they would appoint a council of 120 representatives to select as many as 1,000 tribal elders and respected Afghans...
...Skeptics argue that this is like having a plan for Middle East peace that consists of getting the Arabs and Israelis to sit down and talk. Previous loya jirgas?the first was in 1709, the latest in 1964?have produced good results. But cracks are already showing in the latest venture. The leadership of the Northern Alliance is committed to it, but the group's various factions are not of one mind. "It's just a ragbag of different forces," a senior British official says of the alliance. He says its Uzbek faction rejects the group's new military commander...
...skeptics, the U.S. and the King have sworn they are not trying to bring the monarchy back. "He is not a pretender to the throne," says the King's longtime lieutenant, General Abdul Wali, also an exile in Rome. For their part, the southern Pashtun are enthusiastic about the loya jirga. They say once it is convened, they will come up with a workable compromise for governing the country...
...Though most outside powers including, crucially, Iran, Pakistan and Russia, have signed on, keeping them on board may prove tricky. Once the loya jirga is convened, the real horse trading will begin. Says a senior U.N. official: "This is where we want the U.S.'s new engagement and immense power applied?to lean on the neighbors to pull in the same direction. Any one of them could mess...