KABUL: The gathering of Afghan warlords, men, women and tribal leaders to debate the country’s new constitution under a huge white tent in Kabul is continuing a tradition dating back hundreds of years.

While the current loya jirga (grand assembly) is preparing the country for democracy, the first saw Afghan tribes rebel against foreign occupiers and a subsequent meeting led to the country establishing itself as a nation.

The first loya jirga held in 1709 brought together tribal chiefs and mullahs to back the rebellion of Ghilzai tribal chief Mirwais Khan Hotaki against the Persian occupation of Kandahar.

From that turning point, loya jirgas have always been convened to decide matters of national importance.

“The loya jirga has been very influential in the socio-political life of Afghans throughout history, especially in modern history,” historian and Kabul University lecturer Aziz Ahmad Rahmand said.

“The main purpose of the loya jirgas was to unify the scattered tribes and resolve national matters against the foreign invasions,” he said.

When Persia was left in disarray by the death of its ruler Nadir Shah Afshar, Ahmad Khan Abdali, an astute Afghan officer, called a loya jirga in 1747 to unify the scattered Afghan tribes and establish a dynasty.

His troops had captured a caravan carrying the dead ruler’s treasure, including the legendary Koh-i-Noor diamond, which gave him the means to pay his army and placate rivals.

The loya jirga legitimized Abdali’s rule and he assumed the title of Durrani, becoming known as Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani dynasty.

The second loya jirga, held in 1747 in Kandahar, played a significant role in unifying the scattered Pakhtoon tribes in southern and eastern Afghanistan against the Persian occupation and also selected Ahmad Khan Abdali as king. He later established the first Pakhtoon empire in the region.

He led the Pakhtoons on eight campaigns into India in search of booty and territorial conquest, adding Kashmir, Sindh and the western Punjab to his domains. He founded an empire which stretched from eastern Persia to northern India and from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean.

More than a century later in 1879, Afghan tribal chiefs and religious leaders were invited by the king, Amir Sher Ali Khan, to decide the diplomatic stance to take with Britain.

Britain was about to start the second Anglo-Afghan war because of fears that Russian activity in Afghanistan was threatening British India.

The loya jirga, of religious and tribal leaders urged the king to exercise an independent foreign policy.

In any case, Britain declared war when it asked and failed to get an apology from Afghanistan for the “insult” of Kabul allowing a Russian diplomatic mission into the country and not one of its own. Following a bloody campaign, Britain failed in its main aim to establish a mission or extend its influence.

The fifth loya jirga was convened in 1916 to debate Afghanistan’s foreign policy during the First World War and decided on a policy of neutrality despite being courted by the British and their Turko-German foes.

According to Rahmand, one of the most important loya jirgas in Afghan history was that convened in 1923 by reformist monarch Amanullah with nearly 2,000 delegates from across country.

This loya jirga approved Afghanistan’s first written constitution and asserted the country’s independence following the third Anglo-Afghan war which ended in 1919.

Queen Suria was the first woman to appear before a loya jirga and she pressed the cause of Afghan women.

“Among all the loya jirgas, that one was really representative,” the professor said.

In modern times, the 1964 loya jirga called by King Mohammad Zahir Shah to approve the new constitution offered Afghans a degree of democracy for the first time, with the 452 delegates, including four women, selected by indirect elections.

Although other constitutions were drawn up by succeeding republican and communist regimes and loya jirgas convened to rubber stamp them, the 1964 constitution was reintroduced following the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Former monarch Zahir Shah, who last year returned from three decades in exile, on December 14 inaugurated the current loya jirga which is due to approve a new constitution and pave the way for next year’s first democratic elections.—AFP