CNN.com - The loya jirga: A very Afghan gathering

The loya jirga brings together some 1,500 nominated delegates from across Afghanistan

(CNN) -- A loya jirga, or "grand council", is a uniquely Afghan way of debating and resolving issues of national importance.

For centuries leaders of the rugged, tribal-based Central Asian nation have called such gatherings to choose new kings, debate political matters and factional disputes, or adopt new laws and constitutions.

Beginning June 10, the latest loya jirga brings together some 1,500 delegates to decide the future of Afghanistan after more than two decades of conflict and the fall of the Taliban.

Traditionally the meetings have been made up of leaders and representatives from all of Afghanistan's ethnic groups, along with other elders nominated by village-level councils known as "shuras".

Almost exclusively a male-only affair, the June meeting will for the first time include a sizeable contingent of female delegates.

Also represented are the large numbers of Afghans living in exile, many of them lawyers, doctors and other professionals sorely lacking in their homeland.

MORE STORIES

Although by no means fully democratic, the loya jirga is seen as the fastest and most representative way of setting Afghanistan on course to recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation as a member of the community of nations.

With elections ruled out due to continued instability, a forum of specially nominated elders and community leaders is seen as the best option for producing a government with some degree of nationwide legitimacy and authority.

Focus

Over the seven days of meetings the loya jirga will focus on three key areas:

Under the Bonn agreement of December 5, 2001 the transitional administration appointed by the meeting will run Afghanistan for the next 18 months.

After that, the plan calls for another loya jirga to be convened to approve a new constitution, paving the way immediately for nationwide elections and the installation of Afghanistan's first democratic government.

That, at least, is the plan.

Much of Afghanistan's physical infrastructure is in ruins, the majority of its people barely scratch an existence from the earth and the political scene is fractured along age-old tribal rivalries.

Although hundreds of millions of dollars in aid have been pumped into Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, most of this money has gone on satisfying immediate short-term need.

For Afghanistan to survive and make progress towards peace it will continue to rely heavily on outside assistance for many years to come.

Ethnic interests

On top of that the new government will have to satisfy a broad range of ethnic interests to ensure that the peace so essential to begin the process of reconstruction actually holds.

Afghanistan's ethnic patchwork is wrought with rivalries forged during decades of conflict and discrimination.

The majority ethnic group are the Pashtuns -- the same ethnic group as the ousted Taliban. Sharing the country with them are large numbers of ethnic Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and others.

Although headed by a Pashtun, Hamid Karzai, the interim administration set up in the wake of the Bonn conference was heavily weighted in favor of Tajiks, the ethnic backbone of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

In many ways that reflected the military state of affairs in Afghanistan immediately after the collapse of Taliban rule.

Now, with a new government being formed, Pashtun representatives to the loya jirga have made it be known they will be looking to see a more equitable balance struck in the new administration.

Karzai himself is expected to retain his post, transferring from chairman of the interim administration to head the new transitional administration.

However, as delegates gather in Kabul much else remains uncertain.

Almost certainly there will be bickering, personal rivalries will be on display, and deals discreetly done over endless cups of sweet green tea -- all an intrinsic part of the loya jirga process.

To outsiders the meeting, taking place in a large air-conditioned tent, may seem a strange way of conducting affairs of state.

But to Afghans these are age-old ways of doing business and the best hope there is of rebuilding their shattered nation.