KARZAI ELECTED AS HEAD OF STATE

By an IPS Special Correspondent

KABOL 13 Jun. (IPS)                 As expected, Mr. Hamid Karzai, 45, was elected Thursday with a large majority by the 1.600 delegates of the Emergency Loya Jirga as the new Afghan Head of State and in his first speech, pledged to take the war-shattered nation to peace, reconciliation and prosperity.

Mr. Karzai won with 1,295 votes, the election commission said, adding that Ms. Mas’oodeh Jalal, a woman doctor with the World Food Program, got 121 votes, and Mr. Mir Mohammad Mahfouz Neda’i, a government official received 89 votes.

Delegates cheered and cried "Allah o Akbar" (God is the Greatest) as the result was announced.

"God willing, I will be of service to Afghanistan, my religion, and will work for the development of my country", Mr. Karzai, dressed in his trademark lambskin cap, told the assembly with his voice chocked with emotion while switching between Pashto and Dari, or Afghn Farsi languages spoken respectively by the majority Poshtoons and Tajiks and Uzbeks of the north.

The election of Mr. Karzai, who would continue as the interim Prime Minister for another week, was forgone evidence as he was backed by the United States, Iran, the United Nations and the European Union as well as the ex-King, Mohammad Zaher Shah, former president and leader of the Northern Alliance Borhaneddin Rabbani and all major ethnics, like the Poshtoon, who forms the majority and the Tajiks, a minority that controls most of the present government’s key posts such as Defence, Foreign Affairs and Interior. 18 months ahead of general elections.

“A fundamental task for the nation was to avoid further conflict and misery and foreign intervention. We will defend our national sovereignty at the price of our blood", he promised to a standing ovation, adding that Afghanistan also wanted good ties with all its neighbours.

"He won, that's democracy", said one delegate, adding: it wasn't perfect, but it was unique”.

Mr. Karzai became interim leader in December under a United Nations-sponsored agreement reached in Bonn, Germany, after the Pakistani-backed orthodox Muslim Taleban were booted out of the country by the Northern Alliance assisted Washington, which had entered the war-ruined Asian nation following the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington D.C, a deadly operation carried out by Al-Qa’da, a terrorist network entrenched in Afghanistan and led by Mr. Osama Ben Laden, a wealthy Saudi businessman waging holly war against the United States.

Zaher Shah, who was subject to wrangling between his staunch supporters, who wanted him to regain his position and foes, inaugurated the Emergency Loya Jirga with a 24 hours delay, reiterating that he was not seeking restoration of Monarchy or any role for himself except what he would be offered by the delegates at the Loya Jirga.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was one of the first foreign dignitaries to immediately congratulated Mr. Karzai on his election as Head of State.

"We have always been seeking stability, security and construction in Afghanistan and will not fail to help the Afghan government and nation in this respect", Mr. Khatami assured his new counterpart during a telephone conversation.

He said the decisive vote of the Loya Jirga was indicative of Afghan nation's confidence in Karzai and hoped success for him in carrying out his "heavy task of strengthening independence, unity and progress in Afghanistan", the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported Thursday.                                  

Iran has supported Karzai and has also pledged to grant 560 million dollars over the next five years for reconstruction of Afghanistan, ruined by more than23 years of wars.

In the remaining days ahead, the ELJ is to choose a 111-member parliament that will sit soon after the new government is chosen.

Many delegates believe the US and other powerbrokers have cut deals.

"Everything seems to have been decided. But we don't need anyone to decide for us", said delegate Asella Wardak, adding: "We have had enough of foreign interference in our country."

But Dr Abdollah Abdollah, the interim Foreign Affairs Minister, who is expected to resign from his job, denied speculation that the withdrawals of the former king and Mr Rabbani were the result of heavy-handed US interference to ensure balanced ethnic composition of the new government.

Poshtoons had in fact complained that the interim Administration was almost controlled by the mainly Tajik-based Northern Alliance and to help Karzai overcoming the frustration, Mr. Yoones Qanooni, the interim Interior Minister announced his withrawal during the opening ceremonies on Tuesday.

In another development, a Russian newspaper published on Wednesday what it said was an interview with Mollah Mohammad Omar, the former supreme leader of the Taleban, affirming that Mr. Ben Laden was alive and planning new attacks on Americans.

"He is alive and in Afghanistan", fugitive Omar was quoted as saying. "Osama helped us during the war with the Russians, he would not leave us now", he assured. ENDS KARZAI ELECTED 13602