2002 loya jirga

An emergency loya jirga (Pashto for "grand assembly") was held in Kabul, Afghanistan between 11 and 19 June 2002 to elect a transitional administration.

Then-UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, announced the composition of the Commission in charge of the loya jirga on 21 January 2002; it was to be chaired by Ismail Qasimyar, a legal and constitutional expert.

[2] In May, concern was being expressed that the armed factions in several provinces were influencing the selection of the members of the loya jirga and the commission had received numerous complaints of intimidation and also of violence.

[1] The loya jirga's primary task was to choose a president for the Afghan Transitional Administration who would lead the country until the official presidential elections in 2004.

At the beginning, there were two candidates who had declared to run: former president of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani and the US-backed chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration, Hamid Karzai.

Already at the Bonn Conference which installed the interim administration there was a group of supporters of Zahir Shah, called the Rome-group, who wanted to take the former king to take up the position of head of state.

Former mujahedeen fighter Mohammed Asef Mohsoni submitted a list with 1,050 names for Karzai and also Masooda Jalal, a doctor working with the World Food Programme, and Mahfoz Nadai, an army officer, poet and a deputy government minister, gathered enough signatures to be on the ballot.

[3] During the first day, several bodyguards, including aides of Ahmad Wali Masood, were arrested, after aiming weapons at International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) guarding the compound.

After pressure, Northern Alliance-controlled members of the National Directorate of Security were permitted free access to the loya jirga deliberations, even without being a delegate.

"[5] On 19 June, Hamid Karzai announced to the loya jirga the names of 14 ministers of the future Afghan transitional administration, as well as three Deputy Presidents and a Chief Justice.

[1] After Karzai appointed Qanuni special adviser on security he decided to join the administration anyway, but he also formed a party outside of the government and ran for president in the next elections.

There was also controversy around the post of minister for woman's affairs: Sima Samar had been very outspoken and threats made against her as well as complaints by the supreme court who eventually decided not to charge her with blasphemy.

Hamid Karzai appointed as President of the Afghan Transitional Administration at the 2002 loya jirga in Kabul , Afghanistan .
Participants in the 2002 loya jirga