Karzai talks big, does hardsell before vote

Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai gave himself the big sell today, summing up his achievements during six months as interim leader as the country...

Afghanistan8217;s Hamid Karzai gave himself the big sell today, summing up his achievements during six months as interim leader as the country8217;s grand Assembly prepared to vote for him as President.

The climax of the Loya Jirga traditional debating chamber, which began a day late on Tuesday, is to choose a President to lead one of the world8217;s poorest countries out of 23 years of war.

Karzai is considered the only serious contender in the race, although he has two nominal rivals for the job, one of them a woman. Karzai said that during his six-month interim administration, which expires when the new government is chosen by the Assembly, one million refugees had returned to Afghanistan, schools and universities had reopened and reconstruction begun.

He said he would fight corruption and keep a tight rein on aid money. 8216;8216;We will have unity if we are together,8217;8217; he told the session. 8216;8216;If we are against each other, the country will be a mess.8217;8217;

Each candidate needs to be supported by the signatures of at least 150 delegates to run. Karzai got 700, Women8217;s Affairs Minister Sima Samar got 188 and the third candidate, government official Mahfouz Nedaei, got 157.

Seventy people have signed up to speak in the afternoon session before the voting gets under way. They have been told time is short, but not how many will be allowed to speak.

Karzai came to power under a UN-sponsored agreement after the Taliban were swept from power by the Northern Alliance backed by US air strikes. The US said the Taliban protected Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11 attacks.

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Delegate Sayed Mir Hassan Mehdavi said the new Cabinet would be an ethnic mix and there have been suggestions among candidates that the new president will be a Pashtun 8212; which Karzai is 8212; with the first vice-president a Tajik. The judiciary is expected to be led by an Uzbek.

8216;8216;We have been killing each other for 23 years,8217;8217; Mehdavi said. 8216;8216;We are sitting now to decide the destiny of our people.8217;8217;

The Loya Jirga will choose a 111-member Parliament which will sit soon after the new government is chosen. The government will be in place for 18 months until general elections

are held. 8216;8216;The Loya Jirga is trying to assert itself and take control,8217;8217; one delegate said. 8216;8216;It doesn8217;t want to be a rubber stamp.8217;8217;

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Former king Mohammad Zahir Shah is sitting on the sidelines. Despite renouncing any position in the future government when he opened the Assembly on Tuesday, Zahir Shah could still be given a figurehead role. Reuters