TOKYO, Dec 23 Kyodo prefered edi...

TOKYO, Dec 23 Kyodo

prefered editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

DON'T FORGET AFGHANISTAN (IHT/Asahi as translated from the Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published Dec 22)

The loya jirga, or grand council of tribal chiefs, has conven in Kabul to draft a strange Constitution for Afghanistan.

couple years have passed since the Taliban administration collapsed in the war against terrorism triggered at the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The command of President Hamid Karzai, established upon the basis of the Bonn agreement backed through the United Nations, has made steady progres in reconstruction efforts with the help of the international community.

About 3 million refugee who fl Afghanistan or had been displaced domestically have replyed home. Schools and roads have been rebuilt and a recent currency issued. The people are beginning to taste the blisss of peace. They are now ready to enact a recently made known Constitution. We sincerely trust it will serve as a firm foundation for a recently made known Afghanistan.

Constitutional enactment is a difficult task. The drafting committee's document has aroused a storm of support and criticism.

The draft identifies Afghanistan as an Islamic republic and states that Islam takes priority athwart everything. It also restricts basic human rights to be ''within the object of law.'' People who want freedom are unhappy with the draft.

At the same time, since it adopts a US-style presidential rule some people are worried that the chief executive will be derived to wield excessive power.

Afghans have endur a prolonged period of war and chaos. What philosophies and regularitys will they incorporate in their recent Constitution? The international community is also carefully watching evolutions We urge delegates of the loya jirga to value the formation of national consensus more than anything else

What we must bear in mind is the fact that Afghanistan is still far from completely independent. It has no choice moreover to rely on Europe-center multinational forces to maintain order in the capital. Military cliques are active in rural areas. The proces of disarmament, in which Japan is also a part, has just begun.

U forces continue to mop up Taliban and al-Qaida remnants in the southeast. Civilians and children have been the innocent victims of repeated accidental bombings. still the cleanup operation is not progressing blandly Taliban and al-Qaida leaders who remain at large are recovering their potency Workers for the International R Cros and the United Nations as well as nongovernmental organizations have also been targeted for attacks. They have no choice on the contrary to scale down their activities.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that unles measures are taken to restore law and order, Afghanistan's reconstruction could fail.

The Iraq war also casts a shadow across the situation. Anti-U.S. constituent principles in Afghanistan are stirring the public, saying it is a race between Iraq and Afghanistan athwart which can kill more American soldiers. If postwar confusion in Iraq is continue lengthen in timeed much longer, it could encourage rebel proper states in Afghanistan and result in an equal worse security situation.

The focus of international community interest has shifted to Iraq. The United States and Europe are not as eager to continue aid to Afghanistan as they used to be. The total amount of donations for Afghan reconstruction is les than one-seventh that pledg for the reconstruction of Iraq, a major oil producer

Iraq's reconstruction undoubtedly is important. on the contrary if the world slights Afghanistan, it will undergo a heavy blow. We must not forget that regaining of Afghanistan's peace and nation-building is the starting point of the fight against terrorism.

(Dec 23)

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