Karzai arrives in Germany
2002-12-02 08:00
Bonn - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Germany late on Sunday under tight security for a conference aimed at returning Afghanistan's pressing problems to the international spotlight.
Monday's meeting, which marks the anniversary of an historic deal creating a post-conflict government for Afghanistan, will also measure progress made since last year's fall of the radical Islamic Taliban regime, which harboured the al-Qaeda network.
Karzai will attend the one-day event in Petersberg, near Bonn, along with other senior Afghan leaders.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are also due to attend along with senior officials from some 30 countries.
As Karzai arrived in Petersberg, a press report said disagreements had emerged among members of Afghanistan's constitutional committee at a preparatory meeting for the talks.
The economic daily Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) said the vice president of the committee, Musa M Marufi, opposed any mention of the separation of church and state in the constitution.
"We must not even consider it," the paper quoted him as saying in its edition to be published on Monday.
Other members reportedly came out against the inclusion of gender equality.
But the head of the Kabul lawyers' association, Suraya Paikan, responded that gender equality will "of course" be part of the constitution.
Afghanistan currently uses an outmoded constitution drafted in 1964, almost a decade before Zahir Shah was ousted as king in a bloodless coup.
Under last year's Bonn agreement, Afghanistan must produce a new constitution under which elections can be held before June 2004.
Foreign Minister Fischer has only just returned from Afghanistan, where he announced Germany would increase its military presence in the country when it takes command of Kabul's 4 800-strong International Security Assistance Force in early 2003. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA